


Confessions

by Choi Eimi (Siyah_Kedi)



Series: Confessions [1]
Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Adult Films, BaekYeol - Freeform, M/M, Multiple Partners, Smut
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-26
Updated: 2018-03-26
Packaged: 2019-04-08 14:20:32
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 10
Words: 21,751
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14107227
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Siyah_Kedi/pseuds/Choi%20Eimi
Summary: Baekhyun is strapped for cash, and happens to notice that his favorite producer of 'adult films' is hiring a new actor. He applies for the job, but wasn't expecting his partner to be the legendary Chanyeol.He's warned not to fall in love; it's just business. But with a lover as attentive and caring as Chanyeol, it's impossible not to fall for him - totally - completely - and utterly.





	1. Sinful Confessions

From the outside, the building was fairly innocuous.  There were no hints of what it contained from the bare brick wall and the simple sign hanging beside the door reading “ _ Sinful Confessions Film Production LTD;  _ Kris Wu, Manager”.  

Baekhyun shuffled his feet, checked his pockets for both is ID card and the paperwork he’d just collected from the doctor’s office proclaiming him healthy and disease free.  With a deep breath, he pushed open the door. A tidy, sterile waiting room with plump couches greeted him. A dark eyed young man entered from another door and smiled.

“Welcome to Sinful Confessions,” he said.  “Are you expected?”

Baekhyun started.  “Um, no,” he said. “I’m sorry.  I just – I saw the ad in the paper, that you were hiring, um…”

“Actors.  Sure! My name’s Tao, I’m Kris’s assistant and sometimes cameraman.  It’s a fairly small company, but one of our leads just quit.” He held open the door and motioned for Baekhyun to go through ahead of him.  “Kris’s office is just down here. I’ll see if he’s busy.” 

Leaving Baekhyun standing awkwardly in the hall, Tao knocked gently on a door before pushing it open.  He didn’t quite close it behind him, and Baekhyun could clearly hear him talking. 

“Hey, we’ve got an applicant already.  You want to see him now?”

“Oh, thank god,” the other voice replied.  “I thought it was going to be harder than this.” 

“I did too,” Tao said.

“Go on and send him in.  Then go check on the others for me, would you?  I left them back there on their own, please make sure they haven’t set fire to anything.” 

The door swung open and Tao emerged smiling.  “Go on in,” he said, and hurried down the hall.  Baekhyun took another deep breath and stepped through the door.  An attractive blond man was seated behind a massive desk, half-hidden by stacks of paperwork.  A bookshelf behind him contained nothing but DVDs, and the walls were decorated with tastefully black-and-white photographs of nude men and women.  Just behind him were awards and licenses for film production. 

“Hi,” Baekhyun said lamely, and offered his hand.  The man stood up and shook it, bowing politely.

“Kris Wu, manager, producer, ringleader,” he replied.  “You’re here to apply? You know what we do?”

“Um, yes.  My name’s Byun Baekhyun.”  He dug a card out of his wallet, and offered it.  “It’s… adult films, right?”

“A very specific type of film,” Kris corrected, accepting the card.  “We focus mainly on same-sex pairings and other combinations. And you can call it porn.  That’s what it is.” 

“Right,” Baekhyun said, feeling flushed.  

Kris shuffled some papers around, tucked the card into a case after examining it and offered Baekhyun a seat.  “Okay, I hate interviewing people but I need to know a couple of things. Can you act?”

“I’ve been told I have some skill,” Baekhyun said, and debated on how much he should reveal.  Kris was moving on before he could decide.

“Okay.  Do you have a problem with multiple partners?  Not necessarily at the same time,” he added, seeing something in Baekhyun’s expression.  

Baekhyun shook his head.  He knew about the types of films they made; he’d watched more than a few of them.  That was why he’d jumped at the chance to apply for a job when he noticed the ad – he needed the money, and he knew they did good work.  A brief internet search gave him more information. “I don’t care,” he said. Something in Kris’s face made him smile, and he began to feel so relaxed.  It wasn’t as tension-filled as actually having sex with someone you were in a relationship with, he was beginning to notice. This was business. 

“Any hard limits?”

“What?”

“Anything you absolutely won’t do, no matter what?”

“Um.”  Utterly at sea, Baekhyun shrugged.  “I don’t think so.” 

Kris chuckled.  “We’ll probably run into one or two things you’ll find you won’t do,” he said.  Baekhyun relaxed further. The words suggested Kris had already decided to hire him.  “Like I said,” Kris continued. “I hate interviewing people. We’ll need to get you checked out, that’ll take a couple of weeks, but for now, strip.” 

Baekhyun started again.  He almost blurted  _ excuse me? _ But then realised that it was going to come up eventually.  And he didn’t actually have a problem with it; he just hadn’t expected it to be so soon.  He didn’t know  _ what  _ to expect.  Shrugging off his thoughts, Baekhyun stood up and outwardly projecting a calm façade, pretended like he did this sort of thing every day.  When he was naked, Kris stood up and circled around him, looking closely. Baekhyun fought the instinctive urge to cover himself and tried to keep a dignified expression on his face.  

“Very nice,” Kris said, appreciatively.  “No tattoos, scars or piercings, good muscle tone.  You’ll look good. Go ahead and put your clothes back on.” 

While he dressed again, Kris was on the phone with someone.  Baekhyun retrieved the papers, and handed them over when the other man was through.

“I’ve been thinking about this for a while,” he said.  “I went ahead and had myself tested already.” 

Kris smiled brightly, examining them.   “Then there’s no reason not to get you started as soon as you’re ready,” he said.  “We have fans who prefer certain couples, so I try not to mess them up too much – that’s why when Himchan left us it was such a hassle.  But anyway, it left my leading man without a partner.” 

The door swung open behind them.  Baekhyun turned and looked right into the eyes of the most stunningly attractive man he’d only ever seen on film before. 

It did him no justice.  The cocky smile on his face brightened his eyes and his hair fell in riotous waves over his forehead.  “Yo,” he said, waving. “I’m Chanyeol.” 


	2. Skit and Screen Test

As a closet fan of Kris’s films for years, Baekhyun was familiar with all of his cast and most of the crew, since as Tao had said they were a small company and tended to be the same.  Chanyeol was his favourite, and being in the same room was suddenly overwhelming. Charisma flowed out of him like it leaked from his pores, and Baekhyun was suddenly faced with the realisation that if he was hired, he would be having   
_  
sex  
_  
with this man.  

“Chan, this is Baekhyun.  He’s applying, and I wanted to see you two together,” Kris said, interrupting Baekhyun’s suddenly-fragmenting chain of thoughts.  “Baekhyun, go ahead and go stand next to him for me,” Kris directed. Baekhyun picked his jaw up off the ground and crossed the room to stand beside Chanyeol.  The closer he got, the more he realised there was nearly a foot of height difference between them. When Kris, who was not a short man himself, stood to get closer, Baekhyun felt like a little kid squashed between them.  

Chanyeol slung an arm around Baekhyun’s shoulders and drew him in close.  Baekhyun was momentarily overwhelmed by the smell of his cologne and a musky scent that clung to his skin, the smell of sex and man and virility.  It was dizzying, but pleasant, and he relaxed into the half-embrace, even going as far as to put his own arm around Chanyeol’s waist. 

“You too look good together,” Kris said, eyeing them as if he were already framing them up in front of a camera.  “Are you busy Chanyeol?”

“Of course not,” Chanyeol chirped. “What are you thinking?”

“A skit, and then maybe a quick screen test, if Baekhyun is agreeable.” 

They both turned to look at him.  Baekhyun stared back, helplessly. “What does that mean?”

It was Chanyeol who answered.  “A skit means he gives us a scenario and we act it out.  A screen test is taking you back onto the sound stage and seeing how we look on camera.”  His voice deepened to a sexy rumble as he spoke, his eyes darkening. Baekhyun realised it meant ‘how they look  _ having sex _ on camera’ and felt a thrill of pleasure go through him.  

“I,” Baekhyun stuttered, and tried not to let his enthusiastic  _ yes, let’s go right now! _ reaction show through.  “I don’t mind,” he said finally.  Chanyeol’s ever-present smile turned into a catlike smirk.

“Since we’re testing you, I’m going to tell Chanyeol what I want and see how you handle it,” Kris said, motioning Chanyeol closer.  “Remember that it’s not just sex,”

“But that’s my favourite part,” Chanyeol interrupted.

“But also a little bit of acting,” Kris finished, shooting Chanyeol a quick glare.  “It doesn’t need to be perfect, most people skip it, but not everyone, so they need it.”  They bent their heads together for a moment, and then when Chanyeol turned to face Baekhyun again, he was a different person.  His bearing straightened, his hands curled into fists at his sides, and his expression became severe. 

“This is unacceptable,” he said.  Baekhyun felt a thrill of terror at his tone.  “If your grades don’t come up, we’re going to have to expel you.” 

_ Ah, the scene.  Private school, he’s a headmaster.  That makes me a truant student. _  The thoughts flashed through his mind instantaneously.  It was the work of only a second more to put himself into character and consider how he should respond.  His eyes dropped and his expression became one of earnest pleading. 

“I’m sorry sir,” he said, in a mournful tone.  Kris made a choked noise, but Baekhyun didn’t dare take his eyes off Chanyeol and look at him.  “Isn’t there anything I can do to bring them up?”

Chanyeol’s glare became if anything more severe.  “We don’t give extra credit.” 

“No,” Baekhyun said, licking his lips.  “I mean, isn’t there anything _ – _ ” his eyes dipped to Chanyeol’s hips suggestively before he tilted his head up, parted his damp lips and widened his eyes.  “ _ Anything _ I can do?” he finished breathily.   

Chanyeol’s expression lightened until he was chuckling.  “I like this one,” he said, breaking the tension of the scene.  “Let’s keep him.” 

Kris was smiling too.  “He’s not a dog,” he said.  “Sound stage three, I’ll round up the others.” 

Since neither of them had said anything directly to him, Baekhyun wasn’t sure what they expected until Chanyeol slung one arm around his shoulders and guided him from the room.  “You’re not a virgin, are you?”

“ _ What _ ?” Baekhyun squawked, wrenching away from him.  “Of course not!” 

“Chill, little bit. I was just asking!” Chanyeol held his hands up defensively, and Baekhyun relaxed.  “Are you nervous?”

Baekhyun considered that they were about to go have sex, and shook his head definitively.  “No,” he said. 

“Most people are a little worried about the cameras, at least at first.” 

“Does it make a difference?”

“Not unless you don’t like people looking at you,” Chanyeol said, and grinned.  “It’s just a screen test, so it’ll be relatively quick. Don’t expect everything to go as smoothly as it will today; there’s a never-ending list of problems we go through.” 

Despite himself, Baekhyun was intrigued.  “Like what?”

“Cameras not being on or ready, mics breaking down, lights falling or burning out, bad angles, fumbled lines, can’t get it up, all sorts of things.” Chanyeol shrugged.  “Just part of the business, really, but some days it’s worse than others.”

“It’s a lot more complicated than I expected,” Baekhyun said, a tiny worm of apprehension growing in his stomach.

“Nah,” Chanyeol said easily.  “Your part’s easy – you show up, get naked, and have sex.  The hardest thing you’ll ever be doing is me.” 

Baekhyun choked on spit and then when he caught his breath, couldn’t decide whether it was appropriate to laugh or not.  Chanyeol had no such issues; he doubled himself over with laughter, propping one hand against the wall to keep from falling over altogether. 

“Your  _ face, _ ” he gasped, and degenerated into incomprehensibility.  When he’d recovered, he took a deep breath and drew Baekhyun into a hug.  “I like you,” he said again. “Though I do have to add that it’s not entirely true.  You’ll have lines to memorise, and you’ll have to prove that you’re either very horny or really able to fake it, because sometimes we have to do the scene three or four or more times over and over again, while they get better angles or lights or in case something goes wrong.”

Baekhyun did laugh then.  “I can fake it if I have to,” he said, confidently.

“You sound so sure,” Chanyeol said, eyeing him askance.   “You say that now. You’ll see.”

He pushed open the door to a room labeled Sound Stage Three and found a large, opulent bed dressed in silk sheets and feather comforters.  There was a small bedside table next to it, but that’s where the resemblance to an actual bedroom ended. The whole thing was surrounded by lights – large lights and small lights and hanging lights and standing lights.  And there were also half a dozen cameras, some mounted on the head- and footboards, some free-standing, and still others suspended from the ceiling. Other people were already milling around, some testing the sound equipment and others working on some of the cameras.  Lights came on one by one, brightening the bed until it was almost blinding to look at it. 

Kris was followed into the room by Tao, and they both took places beside cameras as well.  “This is a sound stage,” Kris called, seeing Baekhyun. “We also call them sets. We have ten of them in total, with different backgrounds or dressing, depending on what we’re doing.  If you make a good show of this, I’ll show you around after. This is the team,” he continued. “Sehun, Luhan, Kai, Chen. You know Chanyeol and Tao, and of course, me.” 

They waved as their names were called, and Baekhyun was presented with a selection of stunningly gorgeous men.  

He shut his mouth with a little  _ click _ of teeth, and turned to Chanyeol, wondering what they were going to do now.  He stopped and stared when he saw the other man in the midst of pulling his shirt over his head, revealing a flat plane of rippled muscles and soft-looking, pale skin.  

“Should I,” Baekhyun started, gripping the hem of his own shirt.  

Chanyeol stopped him with a firm grip on his wrist. “Nuh  _ uh, _ ” he said.  “I do that. We’re just waiting for the cue.” 

“Camera one ready,” Sehun called, and was echoed a moment later by Luhan with, “Camera three ready!” 

One by one, they all declared they were ready to film.  

Kris clapped his hands, drawing everyone’s attention.  “Okay, Baekhyun. This time there won’t be anything fancy, it’s just a test.  Follow directions if you can hear me.” He grinned wryly. 

Chanyeol stepped into Baekhyun’s personal space as the others quietly called, “Rolling.” 

“Action when ready,” Kris called to them.  

“Act natural.  Relax and follow my lead,” Chanyeol said, and kissed him.  It was like a jolt of electricity straight through Baekhyun’s body from his lips to his dick.  To his immense surprise, he felt it begin to stir.  _ Act natural _ , Chanyeol had said, so what came naturally in a moment like this?  Baekhyun reached up and buried his fingers in Chanyeol’s hair, grasping the loose strands and wringing a near-inaudible gasp from him.  “Good,” he murmured, not breaking the kiss. Baekhyun felt a flush of warmth spread through him, and almost immediately forgot that the cameras were there.  

The kiss was deep and lingering, Chanyeol’s tongue lazily flicking out to touch his and then moving on to explore.  Baekhyun was breathing hard and only distantly aware that Chanyeol was tugging his shirt up. They broke the kiss only to get it over his head and Baekhyun gasped out loud when bare skin met bare skin.  The world narrowed to himself, Chanyeol, and the scant centimeters that separated them. 

He didn’t even realise Chanyeol was moving them until the edge of the bed hit him at the back of the knees.  Chanyeol pushed until he fell down onto it, and then crawled over him to keep kissing him. Chanyeol shifted slightly, and then pulled away. 

“Try not to come too fast,” he said, grinning wickedly.  

“Not much chance of that,” Baekhyun said, wondering what they were about to do.  When Chanyeol unzipped his jeans and pulled them down, he was almost surprised to see himself hard.  It happened occasionally, but he’d always assumed the wiring was off in his brain to his body. He’d never really felt pleasure the way other people described it.  When Chanyeol took him into his mouth, he realised what he’d been missing out on as desire raced through him, thickening the blood in his veins to a slow crawl even as his heart hammered against his ribs and a loose, wanton moan slipped out past his lips.  

When Chanyeol pulled away, he propped himself up on his elbows and pouted.  “Why did you stop?” 

“Because I want to finger you,” he said, as easily as if discussing the weather, and held up two lube-coated fingers.  Baekhyun’s eyes widened at the sight of them and he felt his mouth drop open into a little ‘o’ of surprise. It was nothing compared to the actual feeling of Chanyeol pushing them gently into Baekhyun’s body, wiggling and twisting and curling until they reached a spot in him that made his bones turn to water.  

“That feels,” Baekhyun gasped out, and then interrupted himself with a low noise.  “So good,” he finished, wanting Chanyeol to know how much it meant that he felt anything at all.  

“It’ll get better,” Chanyeol said, and withdrew his fingers.  

“Oh god, really?”  He suddenly wasn’t sure he could handle anything more.  

Then Kris called out, “Go slow at first,” and Baekhyun realised they were surrounded by people who were filming them.  His face flamed. Chanyeol saw it, and grinned, kissing him before he could say anything. 

While he was distracting Baekhyun with the kiss, he arranged his body between Baekhyun’s legs, pushing his thighs apart and settling against him.  The sheer weight of him was a comfort, and Baekhyun could have happily laid there just like that for as long as Chanyeol would stay. Then he felt the thick, blunt head of Chanyeol’s dick at his hole, and part of him resigned himself to another unsatisfying encounter.  

That feeling lasted until Chanyeol had pushed all the way in, gently, ever so gentle, almost tenderly.  Then long fingers wrapped around Baekhyun’s dick and the stars and fireworks were back, exploding through his body before they got to his brain.  The world around them vanished again as Chanyeol withdrew almost completely before reversing the direction and sliding back in. Sweat dripped of his face and landed with a tiny splash against Baekhyun’s lips.  Almost before he realised it, his tongue flickered out to taste it, and he was rewarded with Chanyeol’s sharply indrawn breath. 

The soft, slow strokes continued, pushing the pleasure into a slow burn in the pit of Baekhyun’s stomach that nevertheless failed to rise.  He tried not to be disappointed; it was more than he’d ever gotten with any of his partners before. Still, it had started so well, he’d allowed himself to get his hopes up.  

“Go faster, harder, rougher,” Kris called.  “But build up to it.” 

Chanyeol pulled all the way out until he was nearly free of Baekhyun’s body entirely and hovered there for a moment before slamming in so hard he pushed Baekhyun up the bed.  It tore a ragged moan out of Baekhyun’s throat, echoed a moment later by Chanyeol’s husky laughter. 

“You like that?” 

“I love it,” Baekhyun gasped.  “Keep going.” 

But he merely repeated the slow motion of pulling out torturously, hovering, and then slamming home.  Each time he pushed in, the pleasure spiked for Baekhyun before sinking back into the heated haze. Gradually, the thrusts became more powerful, the hovering stopped, until Chanyeol was moving faster than Baekhyun thought it should be possible to move.  He writhed and arched up against him in time with the forceful thrusts, practically unable to breathe in before Chanyeol was pushing the breath out of him. The pleasure built faster, setting his body on fire. He clung to Chanyeol’s broad shoulders, nails digging into the skin so hard he was sure he was leaving marks.  Chanyeol didn’t complain, however. His only response was to take one of Baekhyun’s legs and push it up at the hip so that Baekhyun was bent nearly in half while Chanyeol pounded into him. 

“Turn over,” Kris said, and Chanyeol was withdrawing before Baekhyun had even made sense of what had been said.  He picked Baekhyun up by the thigh and the shoulder and nearly threw him onto his stomach, facing the end of the bed, then grasped him by the hips, lifting them into the air before plunging back into him, resuming his furious pace.  The new angles brought new sensations and Baekhyun was incoherent with it even before Chanyeol reached down and took him in hand again. 

The combination was too much.  For the first time ever, the pleasure peaked, shooting through him and exploding from his body in pulses.  If he cried out under the force of it, he didn’t even know because the blood was rushing so loudly through his ears he couldn’t hear anything.  

A moment later, Chanyeol stiffened above him, his thrusts becoming small and tight as his body shuddered before he withdrew.  His whole body tingling, Baekhyun turned to look at him, and watched as he pulled the condom off and discarded it in a nearby wastebasket.  That’s when he remembered that they’d just filmed a screen test for porn, and there were other people around. He squinted through the lights and saw them there, mostly closing down the cameras and chatting idly with one another.  Kris’s eyes were gleaming, and Tao was visibly flushed. 

Chanyeol hooked an arm around his chest before he could climb off the bed, and drew him close.  “I like to have a cool down period after,” he explained. “Luhan calls it being a ‘cuddler’ but then, Luhan’s a cold bastard.” 

Baekhyun was shocked that he was so coherent, but then realised it probably hadn’t been anything special for him.  Being held was certainly a new experience for Baekhyun though, as was pretty much everything else. “That was,” he started, and then tried again.  “I never realised it could be so  _ good. _ ”

Chanyeol’s expression turned suspicious.  “I thought you said you weren’t a virgin!” 

“I’m not.  I’ve had sex before, I’ve just never … finished.” 

Chanyeol blinked.  “You’ve never had an orgasm before?”

“Just now I did,” Baekhyun said, defensively.  

The other man was mystified.  “You mean you’ve gone your whole life without ever once climaxing?”

“Except for this time, yes,” Baekhyun said, wondering if anything was getting through to the other man.  

“But… not even with yourself?”

“It’s mostly boring when I do it by myself,” Baekhyun said, suddenly wondering if  _ he _ was the weird one.  He’d always wondered why people wanted sex so much when it was so strange, but he realised he was beginning to see that it wasn’t supposed to be like that.  

“Boring,” Chanyeol mouthed silently, completely beside himself.  “You poor, poor thing,” he said, and squeezed Baekhyun until the breath left him in a  _ whoosh. _  “Jesus Christ, what a case of blue balls you must have had.”

“I don’t even know what that is,” Baekhyun said, and squirmed to be released.  He could see Kris coming over to the bed and was suddenly self-conscious about his nudity.  

“Welcome to the team, Baekhyun,” he said, and offered his hand.  Baekhyun felt his face heat up to be shaking the hand of his new boss while completely naked, but then figured it was probably okay considering the nature of his new job.  It didn’t stop the embarrassment factor, though. 

“Thank you,” he murmured.  

“We’ll fix it up and give you a copy if you’d like.  It’ll be going in your file, along with anything else you ever do for us.  Then there are a few more details – like how you want your checks, direct deposit or on paper, et cetera, that have to be worked out, but we can figure that out later.”  He smiled, winked at Chanyeol, and went back to Tao before they left the room together. Baekhyun stood up and immediately felt dizzy, putting his hand out in case he fell.  Solicitously, Chanyeol was at his side in an instant.

“Are you okay?”

“Yeah, just… dizzy,” Baekhyun said.  

Chanyeol’s expression relaxed.  “That’s normal,” he said. “You stood up too fast.  Your blood pressure can’t keep up with the rest of you, that’s all.” 

“Oh,” he said, and looked around for his clothes.  Now that it was done, he was feeling tired, and he wanted to go home.  He’d gotten the job, though. 

It wasn’t until later that he realised Kris hadn’t even had time to look at the video they’d created before hiring him.  He wondered vaguely if that was a good thing. 


	3. Teacher's Pet

****He quickly discovered that although he was now taking his clothes off for money, it was just a job like any other.  He’d always thought that he’d feel dirty working in the sex industry, in any capacity, but it was more like having a big new group of friends, one of whom he happened to have inventive and athletic sex with every so often.

Tao, Sehun, and Chen invited Baekhyun out for drinks before his first week was over.  While they were involved in the filming process, running cameras and making music and helping with the sound or staging, the company was small enough that they also performed in the films they helped create sometimes.  

“Bottoms night out,” Chen announced, shooing Chanyeol away when he tried to follow them.  Baekhyun, still feeling like the new kid, trailed after feeling rather lost. Tao smiled, and walked beside him.

“We do this every so often,” he explained.  “Because it’s nice to get away from overbearing, domineering tops once in a while and just hang out.”

“Chanyeol hasn’t been like that,” Baekhyun said, feeling naïve.  

“He will,” the others chorused.  “Let him get used to you. He’s still unhappy about Himchan leaving so suddenly,” Sehun added.  

“That was more than a month ago,” Chen snorted.  “Almost two, now. Tell him to get over himself.”  

Still feeling in over his head, Baekhyun looked between them.  “Is that bad?”

“Sort of an unwritten rule,” Tao said.  “Don’t fall in love – it’s just business.”

“Unless you’re the manager,” Chen quipped.  Tao blushed.

“We were together before he took the company over,” the Chinese man said defensively.  

Baekhyun was still puzzled.  “But why should falling in love matter?”

The other three exchanged a look Baekhyun couldn’t decipher.  “Well, for one, jealousy,” Tao said finally. “If you’re deeply in love with someone, it’s hard to watch them either fucking or being fucked by someone else.  And especially since this is such a small company, let’s say Chen has a thing for Kai, his usual partner. Can you imagine how much trouble we’d all be in if he saw Kai fucking Sehun and lost his mind?” 

“Kai’s a good lover, very attentive, but I wouldn’t want him for a full time boyfriend,” Chen said, playfully shoving Tao.  “He’s too high-maintenance.” 

“I still don’t get it,” Baekhyun said, more to himself than any of the others.  “But I guess I’ll figure it out.” He remained mostly quiet for the rest of the night, watching the other three interact.  There was nothing at all to suggest their profession in either their words or their bearing. For some reason, Baekhyun had gotten it stuck in his mind that someone would eventually be able to tell by looking at him.  They were completely at ease with one another, however, and easily drew him in when he looked like he wanted to join the conversation, or simply let him be around them when he didn’t. 

Apart from the financial aspect, Baekhyun was beginning to see his decision to apply to Sinful Confessions as a blessing in disguise. 

 

*

 

The next time he went in with Chanyeol, they were doing an actual film.  Baekhyun was given a costume – neatly pressed pants, expensive-looking shoes, a button down shirt, tie, and blazer – and a script.  The title was “Teacher’s Pet” and in a stunning display of unoriginality, they were posing as high schoolers. Extras were brought in to round out the small class, and Baekhyun was to be the lead – with Chanyeol acting as teacher.  

His actual lines were minimal – he was to be mouthy and bad – but the brief descriptions of the sex were thrilling just to contemplate.  It had a touch of the BDSM about it, as he discovered he would be tied up at times. 

“This was entirely Chanyeol’s idea,” Kris said.  He was, Baekhyun discovered, a very hands-on director, and liked to help them all through each and every aspect of the process.  They were sitting in Kris’s office doing a quick read of the lines to get a feel for how Kris wanted Baekhyun to portray the student role.  

“What does that mean?”

“He’s basing it off that skit I ran you two through when you applied.  He’s been nagging me to do a student-teacher roleplay ever since.” 

Baekhyun was inordinately pleased.  He remembered the skit only vaguely, because it had been so short, and so quickly overtaken by the screen test.  But now that he was thinking of it, he could clearly recall the look on both men’s faces after his brief recitation.  “You want me to play it like that again? Slutty and pushy?”

Kris chuckled.  “Sure, let’s give slutty a try.” 

Baekhyun pushed it, giving the lines an edge as he read them off the paper.  When he was done, Kris nodded thoughtfully.

“How about innocent now, completely naïve, being corrupted by the horrible teacher,” he suggested.  Baekhyun closed his eyes and tried to find the innocent naïve boy inside him. Kris’s face was animated when he was done.  “That, that right there. Completely pure at the start, not even knowing what sex is until you find yourself with him, getting off again and again.”

Baekhyun felt warm just considering it.  

“We usually film in sequential order – it makes editing less of a hassle later when we don’t have to cut it up into pieces and rearrange everything, just cut out the parts that we don’t need.  So you’ll start off in the classroom, that’s set eight.”

Baekhyun nodded, read his few lines again, and was ushered out the door by Kris.  Sehun stopped him in the hall just outside. 

“We finished with your screen test,” he said, and handed over an unmarked crystal case with a disc inside labeled “Chan/Baek Screentest” and the date it had been produced.  Baekhyun blinked at it, wondering if he even  _ wanted _ to watch it.  Sehun was also in the faux school uniform, with his tie loose and the top few buttons of his shirt undone; he was playing the part of one of Baekhyun’s cronies, the ones doing all the trouble, though Baekhyun was to be the lead troublemaker and thus the one who received the ‘punishment.’ 

They walked together towards the staging rooms, while Baekhyun tried to figure out the best way to wear his uniform.  He ended up taking the blazer off altogether and rolling up the sleeves of his shirt, re-knotting the tie so that it was simpler.  Sehun looked him over, and then nodded approvingly. They entered sound stage eight, and Baekhyun, looking around, realised that he hadn’t even seen the others yet.  Kris had promised him a tour, but they were always so busy updating the website, the twitter feed, the blog, taking mail and writing letters, sending out merchandise – the distractions were endless.  

It was a perfect facsimile of a classroom, half again as large as most of the ones Baekhyun was familiar with in order to make room for the cameras and the lights and the microphones.  Half of the remaining class area was devoted to a mini-set as the teacher’s office. They arranged themselves in their seats, some pulling out actual textbooks from the desks, and then Kris came in and settled himself behind one of the cameras.  

The already-familiar calls of “Camera one ready,” and “Sound ready” came from the people manning the equipment and Baekhyun disguised his script beneath a worksheet.  He knew the lines, but for his first film, he wanted to have it handy just in case. He slouched down in the seat, propping his feet up against the desk in front of him, and fixed an expression of bored disdain on his face.  

“Rolling,” the cameramen said.

“Action,” Kris called.  Chanyeol, stunning in a suit and tie with his hair neatly slicked down entered the ‘classroom’ carrying a briefcase and stood behind the desk, glaring around imperiously.  He looked every inch a forbidding teacher. 

As Chanyeol launched into a legitimate-seeming lecture, Baekhyun – aware that there was a camera on him and him alone – began fidgeting.  It hadn’t been in the script, but Kris had said he encouraged ad-libbing and spontaneous improvisation, and it seemed like the sort of thing his mouthy, attitude-filled character would do stuck sitting in a boring lecture.  It began with rolling his eyes and shuffling his papers around and quickly degenerated into doodling and tapping the eraser of his pencil against the desk. 

It was irritating as fuck; even the other ‘students’ were turning around to stare at him.  Oblivious to it, Baekhyun cocked one leg against the desktop and leaned back, closing his eyes as if to take a nap.  

Chanyeol’s voice rolled out like a thunderclap.  “Mr. Choi,” he snapped, the fake name Baekhyun was using for the film.  “This is a classroom, not a zoological park!” 

“Then why is there a monkey standing up there?” Baekhyun quipped.  It had already deviated from the script – originally, Chanyeol was only supposed to call his name and Baekhyun was supposed to reply with a drawling, ‘ _ Yes? _ ’ 

There were discreet snickers from some of the others in the room.  Chanyeol’s face was utterly priceless, caught hovering between the rage he was supposed to project and the amusement he was clearly feeling.  It lasted for all of about two seconds, and then he lost himself laughing. Kris called “Cut!” and waited for everyone to get themselves under control.  “Continue,” he said when everyone had resumed their positions.

“I will not be spoken to like that,” Chanyeol said, quivering with what was probably suppressed laughter.  He somehow managed to keep a lid on it this time, Baekhyun noticed, and decided it added to the air of fury held in check.   

“How else would I speak to you?  Standing on my head?”

Someone in the back of the room muttered, “Jesus Christ, there’ll be no stopping them now.”  Baekhyun ignored it and cocked an eyebrow, raising his chin so as to present the most irritatingly teenage expression of disdain possible.  

“I am a teacher and you  _ will _ respect me!” Chanyeol bellowed.  Baekhyun faked a yawn until Chanyeol slammed the pointing rod down on the desk with a deafeningly sharp crack that made them all jump.  “Detention! My office, after class!”

“Cut!” Kris shouted, and then Tao slipped out of his seat and collapsed onto the floor, helpless as tears of mirth slid down his face.  

“You – two,” he gasped.  “You – two are – so –  _ perfect! _ ”  

Even Kris was grinning.  “Maybe I shouldn’t even bother with a script,” he said, thoughtfully.  “I don’t think that will ever be as good as it just was, but we’ll take a couple more shots just in case.”  

He reset everyone to their original positions, and they ran through it again with the improvised dialogue, and Baekhyun privately thought he was right.  It was lacking something the original take had, but since nothing was a surprise, they were able to get through it with no interruptions. 

Then the extras cleared out, some of the other staff took their positions at cameras, and they moved to the ‘office’ section of the set.  Baekhyun lingered just outside the ‘door’ of the office and listened for Kris’s cue while Chanyeol set up the scene. 

“Rolling.”

“And, action!” 

He flung the door open so hard it hit the far wall with a muffled thud and slouched into the room.  Behind him, the door swung gently closed. Chanyeol was standing there with an expression like death on his face. 

“This kind of behaviour is absolutely unacceptable,” he said in a quiet, terrifying kind of voice.  Baekhyun felt an initial urge to throw himself to the ground and apologise, based on the force of Chanyeol’s wrath alone.  He suppressed it and instead rolled his eyes. 

“What do you think you can do?” 

This was all scripted.  

“I can make your life a living hell – or something better.”

True to the character he was playing, Baekhyun affected confusion.  “What’s that supposed to mean?” 

“First,” Chanyeol said, withdrawing something from the desk, “Punishment.”

Feeling a spike of real terror, Baekhyun turned for the door and tried to open it.  The knob refused to turn – it was locked. He pulled on it frantically for a moment, and then Kris interrupted the scene in order to make sure Chanyeol had lube and condoms handy.  They resumed their positions and the cameras started rolling again.

Baekhyun turned to lean against the door, watching Chanyeol’s slow, cat-like approach.  “What are you going to do to me,” he whispered, loudly enough for the boom to pick it up.  Kris cut the scene again. 

“We don’t need to see the process, so just loosen your belt and let him put the restraints on you now,” Kris directed.  The restraints turned out to be padded handcuffs.

“What kind of a perverted teacher keeps things like this in his office?” Baekhyun asked, feeling his body begin to tingle as Chanyeol fastened them around his wrists, locking his arms together and inducing a sense of helplessness.  

“This kind,” Chanyeol said, and bent him forward over the desk so that his arms were stretched across it, the chain linking the cuffs hooked around a small protrusion on the other side keeping him there.  More restraints went around his ankles, spreading his legs wide against the desk. Between the two sets of restraints, he couldn’t move. “This might hurt just a little,” Chanyeol warned. “I’ll try to be gentle but some of it’s going to be pretty rough.  Stop me if it’s too much.”

He took up the pointer rod he’d nearly broken in the previous scene and loomed over Baekhyun, back in ‘bad-teacher mode.’   The cameras started rolling, and Kris called for action. 

“You will learn to address your elders with respect, do you understand?” Chanyeol barked.  

“Fuck you,” Baekhyun snarled.  That actually  _ had _ been in the script.  He was a foul-mouthed brat, though totally innocent in the ways of carnal matters.  The pointer crashed down over his ass, leaving behind a stinging line. Baekhyun jumped and yelped.

“Try again, Mr. Choi.” 

“This isn’t fair!” 

_ Crack! _  “Wrong answer.”

Before Baekhyun could speak again, Chanyeol was standing over him.  “Maybe this is too light a sentence for the lesson to really sink in,” he said, sounding completely at ease.  Baekhyun lost sight of him then, when he moved around directly behind him, but he could feel Chanyeol’s hands on the trousers as he yanked them down in one smooth motion, baring Baekhyun’s ass to the cameras.  

He couldn’t repress the squeak that escaped just before the pointer came down again, stinging like fury.  “Ow! You sadist!”

The pointer came down again and again until Baekhyun was writhing against the desk, trying to escape it.  His ass felt hot, and he was sure that if he was able to see it, it would be bright red. Someone had carefully designed the desk though; from the outside it looked like a regular desk, but bent over it like this Baekhyun could appreciate that it was hollowed out for his legs, and cushioned along the edge for comfort.  

As suddenly as it had started, the assault stopped and Chanyeol stepped in close enough for Baekhyun to feel the heat radiating off his body.  Expecting something else – a hand, perhaps – to come down on his abused skin, Baekhyun braced for another strike.

When it came, the touch was gentle, soft almost.  Chanyeol’s fingers curled over the curve of his ass, feeling cold but good.  Soothing. He moaned before he could help himself, and then remembered the line.

“What are you doing?” He heard his own voice as though from a distance, and the apprehension in it was audible.  

“Driving home the lesson,” Chanyeol said, and withdrew his hand for a moment only to return seconds later with his fingers coated in lube.  With no warning or lead-up, he pushed two inside Baekhyun’s body, stretching him before curling his fingers.

“This is disgusting!  Get your hands off me!”

“It’s disgusting?” Chanyeol asked, voice dangerously soft.

“Revolting!” Baekhyun snapped, and decided he was going to have a Word with whoever wrote the script for these things.

The questing fingers found his prostate and Baekhyun, half-expecting their first encounter to have been a fluke, wasn’t prepared for the sensations that jolted through him like lightning.  “Oh! What –?”

Chanyeol laughed darkly.  “A lesson in anatomy,” he said.  Baekhyun definitely resolved to talk to whoever wrote this shit.  “This is your prostate.” He rubbed it with the tip of his fingers before thrusting his hand in and out of Baekhyun’s body.  The friction was intense, and just as he had before, Baekhyun forgot entirely about the cameras and the lights and the people filming them as the world he knew shrank to just the desk he was tied to, and Chanyeol’s long fingers fucking him as he wantonly pressed back against them.  

“Now, I’m going to give you a choice, Choi Jongki,” he said.  “Demonstrate your good manners or I’m just going to leave you here – just.  Like. This.” He punctuated each word with a direct thrust of his fingers onto Baekhyun’s prostate.  

“Y-yes, sir,” Baekhyun choked out.  

“I didn’t hear you.” 

“Yes sir, Teacher Song, I’ll learn manners!” Baekhyun practically shouted.  

Chanyeol pulled away.  For a moment, Baekhyun couldn’t remember if that was the end of this scene or not.  Then he heard the unmistakable sound of a condom wrapper being torn open and suddenly recalled that they were going to have sex right here over the table.  He tugged his arms, but the restraints held him fast. Then Chanyeol was pushing into him – slowly, so slowly, and Baekhyun had to remember that in this he was a virgin, not a slut, and couldn’t beg for more. Still, his eyes nearly crossed when Chanyeol was sheathed to the hilt in his body.  

Expecting another repeat of the teasing, slow-building crescendo their first experience had been, Baekhyun was surprised when he didn’t immediately withdraw.  Instead, he began to move his hips in a circular motion that  _ did _ cause Baekhyun’s eyes to roll back and flutter closed.  Little shocks went through him with every rotation and it didn’t take long before he was mindless with it, thrusting his hips back against Chanyeol’s in an effort to get more friction between them.  

Chanyeol leaned down across his back and spoke low in his ear.  “Don’t forget your line,” he whispered. Baekhyun started and swallowed around the lump in this throat, wondering if he could get the breath to even speak.  

“Fuck me harder,” he gasped out.  Chanyeol stopped moving and then pulled out and thrust forward sharply.

“Manners!”

“ _ Please _ fuck me harder!” 

“Good boy,” Chanyeol whispered, petting him.  He did speed up, however, and began thrusting in earnest.  It felt like Chanyeol had been fucking him for a hundred years.  He never wanted it to stop. But the intense feelings were building, all the energy in his body drawing in for the final explosion of pleasure.  “Are you going to come?” Chanyeol asked, interrupting the start of his orgasm by startling him. “Shouldn’t you ask first?”

“Do I have to?” Baekhyun whined, another deviation from the script.  

Chanyeol stopped moving suddenly.  Baekhyun envied him his control. “Do you want me to stop?”

“No!  Please don’t stop.”  Baekhyun turned his head to look at Chanyeol, and found a camera in his face.  “Please, can I come?”

“You learn so well,” Chanyeol said, stroking his hair again.  “Yes, you can come.” 

As if his body had been waiting for those words, all it took was one more powerful thrust from Baekhyun before he was coming, his face buried in his arms.  That was, of course, when Kris stopped the filming.

“Did you just come?  Can you fake it again so we can get your face?”

Baekhyun arched his back and pushed up with his hands, exposing his face to the cameras.  Chanyeol resumed thrusting, a little wildly, and Baekhyun wondered how close Chanyeol was.  He hadn’t lied, however, when he said he had ample practice in faking orgasms. He’d usually gotten away with it by wearing a condom, but since his spent cock was now hidden by the desk, they just wanted a shot of his face.  He let his mouth fall open and his eyes close as he threw his head back, locking his arms so that his body trembled as he cried out, feeling a little silly.

It was worth it a moment later when he felt Chanyeol freeze behind him, the rhythmic pulses detectible through the condom as he climaxed.  Kris called another halt to the filming as Chanyeol pulled out and removed the condom, Sehun and Tao coming over to untie Baekhyun. He straightened up when he was free only to fall directly to the ground as his legs refused to bear his weight.  His arms trembled with the release of the awkward position he’d been tied in for so long, and he felt weak and shaky. 

Chanyeol appeared beside him instantly.  “Are you okay?”

“Mm,” Baekhyun said.  “Tired,” he realised. There were two or three more scenes to film between Teacher Song and Choi Jongki, as they developed an actual relationship based on the ‘punishment’ the teacher had doled out, but he suddenly wasn’t sure how he was going to make it through them.

“We’ll wrap for today,” Kris said, cementing in Baekhyun’s mind that Kris was a Good Person.  He’d had bosses in less demanding jobs who were bigger assholes than Kris was being, and with less provocation.  Baekhyun was holding up filming, but Kris just took it in stride. 

“Are you sure?”

“It’s just a movie,” Kris said.  “We’re not on a schedule, we don’t have a release date.  What’s more important is making sure my lead actors don’t kill themselves.  Go home, eat, get some rest and drink lots of water,” Kris added. 

Baekhyun nodded his assent and shakily reached for his pants and shirt.  Chanyeol fetched them for him, and solicitously helped him stand when he was dressed.  

“No, really, are you okay?” he asked, when Baekhyun had made his way to the hall, with Chanyeol trailing behind ready to help him.  Baekhyun could see where the others might construe such actions as overbearing or domineering, but since he’d had no one looking out for him but himself for so long, it was rather nice to be cared about, even if only in such a superficial way.  

“I’m fine,” Baekhyun said, waving him off.  “That was just – intense.” 

Chanyeol’s expression hovered between a smile and a concerned frown, like he couldn’t quite make up his mind what he wanted to convey.  “Are you going to make it home okay?”

It was already starting to pale.  Baekhyun shooed him away again. “I’ll be fine,” he promised.  He was half afraid Chanyeol was going to offer him a lift home, which was the absolute last thing he wanted because he didn’t need Chanyeol seeing the dump he lived in.  Finally, Chanyeol settled for escorting him to his car. 


	4. Nothing Compares to You

****So tired he was seeing double by the time he entered his squalid apartment, Baekhyun collected the mail on autopilot.  It wasn’t until he’d sat down – and realised what a mistake _ that _ was – that he even bothered to look at it.  Shifting his weight gingerly, he sorted through it.  Two coupon packs and five official looking letters that were somewhat scary to look at.  

He opened them anyway.   _ Dear Mr. BYUN BAEKHYUN, this is a collections letter regarding your overdue account with HOSPITAL… _

_ Regarding the account at HOSPITAL, a minimum payment of … _

_ Wages will be garnished… _

They all said the same thing.  He was ninety-thousand dollars in debt to the hospitals and clinics because of his mother’s illness.  He’d already lost the house, and the apartment he’d found was only two and a half rooms, with the kitchen more of an alcove off the living room, and a separated bathroom.  It was dark and squalid, in a bad part of town – he regularly heard gunfire and sirens – but they were lax about rent, and it wasn’t too high anyway. It reminded him that he needed to talk to Kris about his paychecks.  

Feeling grimy, he opted for a shower first.  The hot water was sporadic, and he’d learned to clean himself efficiently in the least amount of time to get around it.  Most of the shower was still cold, and he was shivering by the time he stepped back out, but he felt more human at least. 

More able to deal with a financial discussion with his new boss.  He called the office, and Kris picked up on the first ring.

“Sinful Confessions, Kris speaking.” 

“Kris,” Baekhyun greeted him.  “It’s Baekhyun.” 

“Oh, is everything alright?  Hush, Tao, it’s Baekhyun. Go away.  Sorry, what?” 

Baekhyun smiled in spite of himself.  Tao reminded him of a puppy when it came to their boss and his lover.  He’d spent enough time around them in the last week and a half or so to really appreciate the dynamics of the pairings Kris offered, and as a longtime fan of the company anyway, he was excited to be able to get a look behind the scenes.  “I needed to talk to you about paychecks,” Baekhyun said. “Is there any kind of set schedule?”

“Oh, right, I meant to ask you about that,” Kris said.  “You still haven’t said whether or not you wanted direct deposit or paper, and because you get paid based on the work you do – even if it’s coming in after hours and helping to clean up, I don’t want to give the impression that you’re only good on camera – there’s no real schedule unless you want one.  That’s another thing; do you want it in lumps every week, every other week, or a single check per job?”

Baekhyun blinked at the phone.  Kris was by far the most  _ relaxed _ boss he’d ever had.  “Um, weekly, I guess,” he decided.  It would mean smaller checks, but he’d be able to begin making payments to the hospitals, creditors, and debt collectors sooner that way.  

“Okay.  Well, I’ve got your first one here, if you want to come and collect it tomorrow.” 

“Already?” 

“Yeah, we decided to debut your screen test on the website as a way to introduce you, and of course, you’re signed for the film, so that’s included in this one.”

Baekhyun felt tears well up.  It might not be ideal, but he was going to get the collectors off his back and things were going to work out.  He blinked them back and swallowed around the lump in his throat. “Thank you,” he said, and embarrassed himself horribly when his voice cracked.  

“No problem.  Hey, was that it?  It’s just that the kids are in the back and I can hear them shouting, I need to go find out what’s going on.” 

“That’s it, thank you,” Baekhyun said again, and hung up.  

 

*

 

The next day, he wasn’t as sore and felt able to continue filming when he went in.  Kris surprised him at the door with his check. Baekhyun took one look at it, and then another.  

“Is this…right?” he asked, sure there had been a mistake.  There were quite a lot of zeros on that check, and he’d hardly even done anything yet.

“Oh yeah, I told you we’re including the film in this one.”

As tears threatened to embarrass him again, Baekhyun forced himself to put the check in his wallet and put it out of his mind.  

“If you’re interested, as soon as we’re done filming  _ Teacher’s Pet _ , I wanted to see about adding you into an ongoing series we’ve got,” Kris said.

“A what?”

“It’s like a webshow,” he explained.  “Kai and Chen are the main players, as friends with benefits who live and work together.  That’s actually what we’re calling it, “Friends With Benefits” but as lame as it sounds, it’s one of our biggest hits.  Except for anything Chanyeol appears in. For some reason, everyone seems to love him the best. I’ll have Tao show you the numbers someday and you’ll see what I mean.” 

On the move constantly as he talked, Kris walked Baekhyun down to the ‘dressing room’ where they kept the costumes and set pieces and props.  Since he would be back in character as Choi Jongki for the film, he needed to find his uniform again. But his character would be evolving. Because of the secret relationship with his teacher, “Jongki” was becoming a model student with very nice manners and good grades.  The whole idea was patently ridiculous, but as Kris was constantly telling him, just because  _ most _ people skipped the plot parts and went right to the sex, it didn’t mean  _ everyone _ did and they needed to have something in between sex scenes.  

Back in uniform and character, Baekhyun settled down in his seat while Chanyeol shuffled through papers.  The other ‘students’ were talking to each other while the cameras got set up, and Baekhyun let the noise of their conversation wash over him as he considered what Kris was offering him as an extra on “Friends With Benefits.” 

Finally, the call from Kris came for action.  Since they were supposedly in the middle of a test, Baekhyun bent his head down and pretended to scribble answers on a piece of paper.  When they ‘turned it in,’ Teacher Song flipped through them idly and then looked up.

“Choi Jongki,” he said, and Chanyeol was a superb actor – he managed to have just the right tone of voice that would have struck fear into the heart of any student while still maintaining an amused twinkle in his eyes regarding the nature of his illicit relationship with a student.  “See me after class about this.” He waved the stack of test papers. 

“Yes, sir,” Baekhyun said, and slouched.  A bell rang, and the other students gathered their bags and left the ‘classroom.’  Baekhyun tapped his pencil on the desk again, waiting while they cleared out. His ‘gang’ patted him on the shoulder and pretended sympathy for his being in trouble again. 

Once the class was empty, Chanyeol came around his desk and hauled Baekhyun out of his seat by the collar.  Baekhyun, slipping into character as easily as if he’d put on a jacket, looked over his shoulder. 

“Sir, the door,” he said.  Chanyeol looked back and swore before releasing Baekhyun and closing it, pulling the blinds down and locking it.  He crossed the room again in two strides, snatched Baekhyun up by the back of his head, and kissed him. Baekhyun didn’t need any urging from Kris to melt against him – he couldn’t help it.  His body went from zero to sixty in the time it took Chanyeol to plant his free hand against Baekhyun’s ass and draw him closer. Chanyeol bent slightly and ground their hips together, somehow making it seem natural rather than awkward.  Baekhyun, who still hadn’t gotten used to Chanyeol’s charisma and his responses to it, was still waiting for the bottom to drop out and his body to go back to not reacting at all. 

It was still a surprise when it did, and he broke the kiss to throw his head back and angle closer.  

“Uh-uh,” Chanyeol said, and pushed him away slightly.  “I want you to go sit on the desk,” he ordered. Baekhyun blinked at him, for a moment unable to process the words.  

“Sit…on the…?”

“Yes, sit on the desk,” Chanyeol repeated, a glint in his eye that promised – something.  Baekhyun did as instructed, feeling out of sorts since Kris had told them to disregard the script unless otherwise instructed.  Therefore, it was a complete surprise when Chanyeol dropped to his knees, unbuttoned Baekhyun’s trousers, and leaned forward. He got his own surprise when he saw Baekhyun had decided to leave the underwear off this time.

“Oh, you are naughty, aren’t you?  Were you sitting in class this whole time with no underwear, thinking about this?”  Chanyeol stroked him gently, as if petting a cat. Baekhyun wiggled as desire curled through him.  

“Yes,” Baekhyun said.  Chanyeol swatted his thigh.  “Yes, sir,” he amended without prompting.  “Just thinking about you, the whole time,” Baekhyun added.  

“Is that why you missed the question about the current president?” Without waiting for an answer, he bent his head and licked at the tip of Baekhyun’s dick.  Baekhyun let out an involuntary whimper. “You’re going to take the test again,” Chanyeol murmured without pulling away. The vibration of his deep voice around sensitive skin had Baekhyun whining and writhing on the desk.  “Right now.” 

“Wh-what?”

Chanyeol licked him again, wringing a choked moan out of Baekhyun.  “Pick up the test paper, read the questions, and answer them. Right now.”  

“A-ah, okay!” He groped behind him for the test paper.  There were actual questions written on it, but no one had truly answered them.  “Wh-what year was America founded?” he read out. Chanyeol sucked him deep into his mouth and Baekhyun stifled another moan with his hand.  “I can’t think when you’re doing that!” 

“You’re going to learn this one way or another.” 

For every correct response, Chanyeol sucked him.  Every time he missed one or stuttered too often, Chanyeol pulled back and teased him, blowing cool air across his heated and damp skin.  

“If you come before you finish the test, you’re going to stay after tomorrow and take it again,” Chanyeol warned, and then upped the game by bringing his hands up to play with Baekhyun’s balls.  He clamped down against the extra sensation, trying to hold off impending orgasm. He was nearly to the end when Chanyeol cheated once more, slipping one hand behind him and playing with the ring of muscle around his entrance.  He didn’t have lube, and so didn’t push in, but just the feeling of someone touching him there – of  _ Chanyeol _ touching him there – was nearly enough to set him off.  He finished the test, reading at light speed, and then came with a shout down Chanyeol’s throat.

“Good job.  One hundred percent,” he said, once he’d swallowed it.  “You may pass this class yet.” Baekhyun, still shivering in the aftermath, could only nod in response to the praise.    

 There were only a few more scenes after that, and the culmination was the day before ‘graduation’ when Choi Jongki had to come to his teacher and confess.  Baekhyun – who had never said ‘ _ I love you’ _ to anyone, not even his own mother – was deeply uncomfortable with it.  

“There’s no other way around it,” Kris said.  “It’s essentially a love story between student and teacher.”  He did look unhappy at the prospect of Baekhyun having trouble with it, which endeared him to Baekhyun even more.  

“I’ll … say it,” Baekhyun said, finally capitulating.  “But it’s probably going to be … awkward.” 

Kris patted his shoulder.  “In this, you’re a seventeen year old student.  Awkward is your middle name.” 

They set up for the scene with Baekhyun in a graduates robe.  Chanyeol, in character as the teacher, was tidying up the classroom, wiping down the whiteboard and pulling things down off the walls.  

“Teacher Song?” Baekhyun asked from the doorway.  His voice broke awkwardly over the words which he first hated, and then remembered that Kris had said it would add depth to the scene.  

Chanyeol turned around with a huge smile on his face.  Baekhyun panicked.

_ I can’t say this! _ He thought.   _ How can I say it to someone when I don’t feel it for them?  This is going to be a disaster. The whole ending is going to be ruined.  It’s just a few words. Oh my god.  _

“Jongki-yah!  Congratulations!”  His voice deepened.  “I knew you could do it.” 

“It – it’s all because of your help,” Baekhyun said, fumbling the line.  Kris failed to stop him, though. “Teacher Song, I wanted to tell you – I need to say…” 

Chanyeol was coming closer, real concern in his eyes.  “Are you okay?” Baekhyun had the feeling he wasn’t just asking as Teacher Song to Student Choi, but Chanyeol to Baekhyun.  He nodded, somewhat jerkily. 

“I,” he said.  “I…” He wasn’t going to be able to say it.  He cast around for something funny to say, something to break the mood, the moment, the tension.  He saw only the encouraging and expectant looks on the other staff’s faces. Finally he looked up at Chanyeol.  The words slipped out.

“I love you!” 

Chanyeol blinked, but then smiled, still in character.  He drew Baekhyun into his arms, totally unaware of the revolution going on inside Baekhyun’s brain.

_ Do I?  I think I do!  How can this be possible?  I’ve only known him for less than a month.  It can’t happen so quickly! Most people are together for years before they realise it, aren’t they?  This is bad anyway, they told me not to fall in love. They’re going to fire me. I’m never going to see him again.  I can’t let anyone know. I don’t even know. It should be easy. How can I feel this way? This can’t be happening! _

“I,” Chanyeol said, and Baekhyun was astonished to hear  _ his _ voice crack in the middle of the sentence.  “I love you, too,” he finished, planting a tender kiss on Baekhyun’s mouth.  Then he turned to the camera and gave an exaggerated wiggle of his eyebrows. The crew burst into giggles and Kris yelled, “That’s a wrap!” 

Baekhyun broke out of Chanyeol’s arms.  “I think,” he said. “I think I need to… go.  I’m… okay. Thank you!” He fled.


	5. All I See is You

Chanyeol looked helplessly around at the crew members and then took off after Baekhyun at a brisk jog.  The kid was surprisingly fast, he realised – it had only been a few seconds between him tearing out of the room like his ass was on fire, and Chanyeol making the decision to follow him, but he was nowhere in the immediate vicinity.

Acting on a hunch, he turned into the bathroom and was rewarded with Baekhyun clinging to the sink for dear life.  The tap was still dripping, and so was his hair, so it was obvious that he’d splashed himself and Chanyeol couldn’t help but wonder why.  Baekhyun was a spazzy ball of fluff, but it made every day a new adventure. The fact that he made Chanyeol see stars when he came wasn’t a bad side effect either.  

Chanyeol slipped inside without being noticed, and padded up behind Baekhyun, back-hugging him by surprise.  He tightened his grip when Baekhyun twitched and tried to wiggle away again. “You didn’t think you were getting away that easily, did you?” 

“I hoped,” Baekhyun said, somewhat helplessly.  Chanyeol met his eyes in the mirror and looked at the way they fit together.  He could see why Kris had hired the man so quickly. There was no denying that they looked good together, their bodies in perfect complement to each other.  Baekhyun’s straight dark hair and pale skin looked fabulous next to Chanyeol’s bleached-blond mop and tanned body. He wondered what the contrast looked like on camera, and made a mental note to review their screen test at the very least.  He’d long since ceased to be titillated by watching porn, and watching himself was often embarrassing, but watching  _ Baekhyun… _

Oh yes, he’d make an exception for Baekhyun.

The silence went on too long and the man in question was trying to squirm away again.  Chanyeol held him tighter, drawing him close so swiftly he exhaled on a quiet,  _ “Oof,” _ before craning his neck to look up at Chanyeol.

“Can I help you?” 

“Just because it wasn’t sex, doesn’t mean I don’t need my cool-down cuddle,” Chanyeol said, groping for an excuse.  The truth was, he just hadn’t wanted to let Baekhyun go like that. A wicked idea came into his head, and he slipped his right hand down to Baekhyun’s left hip and left it there, waiting to see if he’d been discovered.  “But since I’ve got you,” he murmured when he realised Baekhyun wasn’t paying attention to him. “Have you ever watched yourself in the mirror?”

Baekhyun’s brows came together in a frown.  “Watched myself do what?”

“Look.”  Chanyeol gestured with his chin, and waited until Baekhyun’s eyes focused on the glass before sliding his hand over to cup him through his ridiculously tight costume jeans.  Baekhyun’s breath caught at the contact, not expecting it. 

“What are you –”

“Watch,” Chanyeol ordered again, and met his eyes in the mirror again before rubbing and squeezing gently.  Baekhyun’s cheeks flushed as his mouth fell open and his eyes glazed. Chanyeol still couldn’t believe he claimed he’d never come before their screen test.  That was a damn shame, and it was probably due to careless or unfeeling partners. Chanyeol wanted to take each of them out behind the back shed and kick them all in the balls.  He watched Baekhyun watching himself becoming aroused and was sure that there had never been a more beautiful sight in the world. 

He debated on whether to stop or to finish him there, and then the helpless whimper Baekhyun let out made the decision for him.  There was no way he couldn’t finish this, and he paused briefly to unzip his jeans. 

Baekhyun, unfortunately, recovered some of his thoughts in the three seconds it took, and stopped him.  “Wait, are we allowed?”

Chanyeol, sure he’d heard that wrong, blinked at him.  “Excuse me?” 

“I mean…”

Comprehension dawned, and he laughed.  “You mean, are we allowed to do anything ‘off camera?’  Of course we are! If you want to,” he added, suddenly unsure of himself.  It wasn’t a feeling he was familiar with, but Baekhyun seemed to bring it out in him.  He punctuated his question with a quick flick of his wrist, drawing a broken moan out of Baekhyun. 

“I want,” he purred, once he’d gotten his breath back.  

“Watch, then,” Chanyeol directed, and waited until Baekhyun was looking at himself in the mirror again before starting again.  

“This,” Baekhyun said, faltered, and then tried again.  “This is bizarre.” 

“It’s so hot,” Chanyeol murmured, pressing a kiss to the fluttering pulse in his throat.  “ _ You’re _ so hot,” he added.  It didn’t really take much after that for Baekhyun to muffle his noise behind his hand as he came, shuddering, in Chanyeol’s arms.  He sagged, letting Chanyeol take his weight for a moment while he caught his breath. 

“Do you want me to…?” The open-ended question hovered awkwardly in the air between them.  Chanyeol, who knew perfectly well what he was asking, put on an innocent expression just to make him say it.

“To what?”

Baekhyun’s face flushed beguilingly.  “I don’t know… suck you off, or…”

He would have been fine if Baekhyun thanked him for the favours and left, but now that it was out, he wanted it.   _ Oh, _ how he wanted it.  “Yes,  _ please, _ ” he breathed, and was rewarded with a shy smile from Baekhyun.  

To his immense surprise, Baekhyun didn’t insist they find a bedroom, or even a more private area like one of the unused sets, or  _ even _ push him into one of the stalls.  Instead, he put himself to rights and turned right there in the middle of the public restroom before going to his knees and bringing Chanyeol out of his jeans.

“Already hard?”

“You turn me on, what can I say?”

Baekhyun shoved his pants out of the way and leaned forward and licked him.  Chanyeol, who’d been sucked off countless times by countless people, nevertheless lost control of himself with that one tentative swipe and broke one of his own rules by whimpering as a pulse of pleasure shot straight up to his brain before rocketing back down throughout his body.  

“You’re not going to be a tease, are you?”

Baekhyun looked up through his lashes, pressed a kiss to the tip, and then instead of answering took Chanyeol all the way into his mouth and down his throat, swallowing around the head before flicking his tongue back and forth along the shaft and rearranging his lips to suck.  Chanyeol’s hips bucked forward without checking with his brain first, but Baekhyun took it in stride. 

“Jesus  _ fuck _ , why didn’t you tell someone you had no gag reflex?” he half-moaned.  Baekhyun dragged his lips off of Chanyeol’s dick without taking his eyes off Chanyeol’s face, and licked his lips.  

“I didn’t think about it,” Baekhyun said, truthfully.  “Now, are you going to let me do this or are you going to continue interrogating me?”

“Do it,” Chanyeol said instantly. “Fuck yes please, suck me.”  He’d said things like that before on camera, but he’d never felt the need to say them when he was just having sex on his own time.  Something about the way Baekhyun was looking at him was bringing out the filth in his brain and vocabulary. And from the flash of heat in those beautiful dark eyes, Baekhyun wasn’t opposed to a little bit of dirty talk, either.  

Although no novice, Baekhyun’s wasn’t the most perfect blowjob he’d ever received.   _ Occupational hazard, _ he thought, and then covered his mouth before he could give himself away by moaning too loudly or laughing.  Something in the artless, enthusiastic method was  _ better _ than the pretty, bland, perfect blowjobs he’d had before, though, and it wasn’t long before he was coming down that perfect throat.  To his surprise, Baekhyun swallowed everything, and then licked him clean when he was done. Almost oversensitive, the gentle flicks of Baekhyun’s slick, hot tongue were enough stimulation to give him  _ very _ good dreams for a week.

“Thank you,” Chanyeol said when he was done.  Baekhyun looked startled. “What?”

“I’ve never been thanked before,” he explained.  Chanyeol’s opinion of Baekhyun’s past lovers dropped further, though he hadn’t even thought it was possible.   “But I should thank  _ you. _ ” 

Chanyeol grinned.  “Yeah, you look calmer now.  And where do you think you’re going?  Have I or have I not made myself clear about the cuddling?”  He snatched Baekhyun up by the back of the shirt and hauled him close when he would have exited the bathroom.  “What the hell type of people did you sleep with before? What was it, just  _ wham, slam, thank you, man? _ ” 

Baekhyun gave him a helpless look but acquiesced to the lingering hug, shrugging his shoulders in response to the question.  “I guess,” he said. 

“Psh.  No wonder you never had an orgasm before.”  

  
  


“He’s a cute kid,” Chanyeol said, chugging on an extra-large cup of coffee.  He looked up over the end of the cup, waiting for Kris’s response. 

Nodding, Kris agreed.  “He’s so jumpy that he looks like his own shadow might scare the life out of him one of these days,” he said.  “But then he gets on camera and the sexual tension between you two is so thick you cut it with a knife.” 

“He’s ten times better than Himchan ever was,” Chanyeol agreed.  There was something about the shorter man that appealed to him, attracting him at the most basic levels.  

Kris eyed him with a sidelong glance.  “Are you okay saying that?”

“Why wouldn’t I be?”

Kris sighed.  “We all knew that you were…  _ involved _ with Himchan, romantically.  It was pretty clear on your face that his leaving was devastating to you.”  He turned to face Chanyeol fully. “To tell the truth, we were pretty worried about you for a while.” 

Chanyeol shrugged.  “I was. I’m getting over it, though.  I guess it just wasn’t meant to be. You know that saying, if you love someone let them go?  Baekhyun’s helping.” 

“Mm, speaking of Baekhyun.  He’s too good to be here,” Kris said.  Chanyeol looked surprised.

“Why do you say that?”

Kris pounded him on the shoulder, almost causing him to choke on his drink.  “You know as well as I do that someone as beautiful as Baekhyun could have gotten a job in  _ real _ movies,” Kris said.  “Not just fucking strange people for other strange people to get their rocks off to.”

“Hey, I like fucking strange people.  Baekhyun is a prime example. You know he told me he’d never had an orgasm before?”  Chanyeol shook his head and leaned back against the seat. “He says he’s not a virgin, but he sure acts like he’s never been touched before.” 

“If he was a virgin before he came in, he’s certainly not now,” Kris said, chuckling.  “But that’s part of his charm. His reaction to you is totally unfaked, and he’s got this presence on screen that’s magnetic that I don’t notice when we’re filming.”

Chanyeol looked blank.  “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“Have you watched any of the prescreens yet?”

“No.”

“Come with me.”

Kris took him into the editing room and pulled up their screen test.  “Obviously he was nervous and unsure and brand new, but just watch how he responds to you, and how he dominates the scene even though he’s bottoming.  You two play off each other perfectly.” 

Chanyeol watched with feigned detachment.  He honestly hadn’t realised that they did – the others weren’t lying, they were  _ super hot _ together on screen.  Then something else caught his eye.  “Have you noticed, he’s changed a lot since he started working here,” Chanyeol said.  “Look, here, he’s skinny, but he’s not that skinny. And he’s got a tan in this, I didn’t even realise.”

Kris was outright puzzled.  “What are you even talking about?”

“Pull up our most recent, next to it.”  As Kris did as he was told, Chanyeol pointed it out.  “He’s been pale lately, like he’s lost his tan. And look, you can almost see his ribs in the new video.  Do you think he’s sick? Or sick _ ened _ , by his job?  Should we ask him?”

Kris shrugged.  “It’s not really our place.  He’s still new, we don’t want to push him too far by prying into his personal life.”

“If he gets any worse, I’m going to push,” Chanyeol said, but Kris waved it off.

“Of course you are.”


	6. Strangers in the Bar

 

 

Months passed somehow.  Baekhyun learned to enjoy his job in a whole new way as he got to know everyone better, and found that he had ready companionship as well as an uninterrupted stream of sex.  Tao, Chen, and Sehun – over the course of continually dragging him to noraebang and restaurants in the name of “Bottoms Night Out” – became his best friends, the people he felt he could talk to about anything.  They listened to his stories about growing up without a father and didn’t judge him for his broken home life. 

He continued to fall ever deeper into a vast pit of passion, desire and above all,  _ love _ for Chanyeol, but it remained the one thing he hadn’t revealed to any of the others.  They’d warned him in the very beginning, after all, not to fall in love. He didn’t know, and couldn’t tell, whether or not Chanyeol had feelings for him in return, and it was better to suffer in silence.  Sehun picked up on it first, and brought it up during dinner one night.

“Your entire face lights up when you see him,” he said, a tad drunkenly.  Baekhyun, who’d downed just as much alcohol as the other man, didn’t deny it immediately.

“I,” he began, and then Chen burst in.

“It makes you  _ shine _ on camera,” he pointed out.  Baekhyun felt his face heat up, and hoped they’d blame it on the soju.  

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he managed finally.

Tao regarded him in hooded silence for a long moment.  “He shines, too,” he said, matter-of-factly just before his head lolled back.  Sehun rolled his eyes.

“Lightweight,” he muttered.  “I guess this means it’s time to call a cab.”

Baekhyun helped them get Tao into the back seat and waved off their offer to share the cab.  Not only was it impractical with Tao taking up more space than he should have been able to, he’d never even hinted at where he lived, much less brought any of the others back.  His address was on his resume, of course, but Kris was the only one who had access to it, and he would die before letting them know the kind of neighbourhood he lived in, much less what his apartment looked like on the inside. 

Kris scheduled them for two or three shoots a week, and was constantly busy.  Even with Tao helping him, he had a constant stream of films and shorts to edit, music to compose, accounts to manage, paychecks to disperse, and scenes to direct.  Baekhyun had begun training on the proper management of a boom mic, which was actually harder than it looked, and sitting in on some of the other shoots. He practically bullied Kris into delegating some of the duties he was constantly taking on, and found himself promoted to accountant and financier in addition to boom operator and actor.  The added increase to his paychecks was welcome, even though he was still funneling the majority of his money directly into the hospital bills his mother was constantly racking up. He kept back only enough to keep his bills paid and food in his fridge.

He and Chanyeol filmed a short movie in one of the bedrooms, as teenagers indulging in an awkward first time.  Seeing the normally-smooth Chanyeol fumbling his way through a seduction was endearing, and Baekhyun’s heart cracked as he realised that as long as they continued like this, he was only going to keep falling deeper and deeper in love with the other man. 

At some point, it wasn’t going to be enough, just sleeping with him for money.

 

*

 

“This scene is ‘Strangers in the Bar’,” Kris informed them.  They were on another set, a remarkably lifelike nightclub except for the extra space all around the stage for the cameras.  Baekhyun was dressed in something Chen described as ‘slutty’ – a mesh shirt with sequins sewn on over a pair of indecently tight jeans – but Chanyeol was devastating in a pair of black leather trousers and a plain white, ribbed wife-beater.  Fake tattoos adorned his arms and throat, and with kohl lining his eyes and his hair neatly slicked back, he was – in Baekhyun’s eyes –  _ sex _ given human form.   

Baekhyun began the scene seated at the bar, sipping from a bottle that had been washed out and filled with water.  Chen was acting as the bartender, and set a frosted glass containing watermelon juice down onto the bar before him.

“From the guy at the end,” he said gruffly.  In keeping with his character, Baekhyun leaned over the bar and glanced down the line of other ‘customers’ to look at Chanyeol.

Chanyeol’s face was sultry, and he blinked almost in slow motion, his every action an invitation.  Baekhyun felt his mouth dry up like the Sahara as his body tensed in anticipation. He swallowed and took a sip of the ‘drink’ to wet his throat, and leaned over the bar again to catch Chanyeol’s eye.

Even knowing the whole thing was planned out, it was still a secret thrill to see Chanyeol jerk his head towards the restrooms and raise his eyebrow in a blatant dare.  Baekhyun fumbled his wallet out of the ridiculous jeans, threw down a couple of bills and glided off the barstool. As if they’d planned it, Chanyeol rose in unison with him, and they made their hurried way into the ‘restroom’.  Chanyeol slammed him into the wall as soon as the door closed behind them, kissing the life out of him. There were already cameras set up and rolling around the tiny set, and they didn’t miss a beat of the scene.

“You’re hot,” Chanyeol muttered, pulling away to yank at Baekhyun’s jeans.  Baekhyun slid his hands up Chanyeol’s tank top, gasping.

“So are you,” he said.  Chanyeol opened his jeans and shoved them out of the way, jerking him off roughly to get him hard before sinking to his knees and taking Baekhyun into his mouth.

The starburst of lights in his head went off like fireworks, as they always did whenever he and Chanyeol started filming.  He clutched at the sink with one hand while the other muffled the cry that threatened to spill out of his mouth. 

He was getting close when Chanyeol pulled off.  “I want to fuck you,” he said roughly. 

“Yes,” Baekhyun said immediately, and belatedly remembered to ask, “Do you have –?”

Chanyeol cut him off, displaying a half-used tube of slick and a crisp condom packet in the palm of his hand.  

“Do it,” Baekhyun gasped, and turned to clutch at the sink with both hands.  Chanyeol prepared him quickly with harsh thrusts of his fingers. Baekhyun pushed his hand into his mouth, mindful of the fact that they were in a ‘public place,’ and panted.

It was like dying when Chanyeol pushed into him, the lube easing his way despite the less-than-ideal preparation.  Pleasure and pain blurred until they were inseparable – desire hurt and the burning stretch was a delight. 

Baekhyun half-expected the entire encounter to continue as it had started – quick and rough – but he’d forgotten Chanyeol’s propensity for invention.  As soon as the taller man was sheathed to the hilt, he stopped moving, and instead brought his hands up to glide over Baekhyun’s chest, playing with his nipples and stroking his throat and ribs and stomach before dipping down to hold his hips with one hand while the other wrapped around his dick.  Baekhyun lost his hold on his supposed propriety and moaned, low and loud, pushing his hips back in an unspoken request. 

Chanyeol obliged him, thrusting hard and deep in time with his gliding hand.  From there, it was an embarrassingly short time before Baekhyun was so far gone, he forgot his own name.  Chanyeol – who was clearly a sadist in his spare time – kept Baekhyun hovering on the edge of orgasm without letting him tip over until he was done.  The resulting orgasm screamed through his body with the force and subtlety of a freight train and Baekhyun came back to himself on his knees, clutching the sink for support.

He looked up over his shoulder, and saw Chanyeol beside the door, his clothes already fixed in place.

“Thanks,” he said carelessly, and slipped out of the bathroom.  Even knowing that he was just going to circle around and watch Baekhyun from outside the camera shot, his leaving hurt.  Baekhyun blinked back a sudden overwhelming onslaught of emotion that threatened to bring tears to his eyes and calmly got to his feet and adjusted his clothes.

Kris called, “Cut!” and Chanyeol was there, wrapping Baekhyun up in a warm embrace for his ‘cool down period.’  Baekhyun allowed it numbly, still fighting tears for some reason. 

“You’re too skinny,” Chanyeol said.  “Don’t you eat?” 

It shattered the mood, for which Baekhyun was grateful.  He shoved at Chanyeol and affected a scowl. “I eat,” he said insistently.  

“Seriously,” Chanyeol said, and placed one hand on his waist.  “Look, my hand is bigger than your hips. You’re too skinny.” 

“You just have monstrous hands,” Baekhyun said.  It did remind him that he needed to go shopping again soon, although most of what he bought were things like ramyun and prepackaged kimchi and mandu.  It might not, he reflected, be the healthiest or most nutritious of diets, but his mother was going to start dialysis soon, to compensate for her failing kidneys and he was just barely keeping on top of the bills that were coming in as it was.

It also reminded him of his inconvenient feelings for his partner.  Only one possible solution presented itself.

He would have to go to Kris and ask for another partner.


	7. Inspiration

 

“Kris, may I speak to you?”

He pushed open the door of the office, and saw Kris look up from his computer, a look of pure terror on his face.  “Please don’t quit!” he blurted out.

Baekhyun stepped in and closed the door, bewildered.  “I’m…not going to,” he said, uncertain. Kris relaxed visibly.

“Thank god.  Himchan said the exact same thing to me just before he handed in his two weeks’ notice.”  Kris gestured to one of the seats in front of the desk. “So, what’s up?”

Baekhyun perched on the edge of the seat, unaccountably nervous.  “I’m not going to quit,” he said again. “But… um.” It was harder than he thought it was going to be.  In his mind, he’d just waltzed in, announced that he couldn’t work with Chanyeol anymore, and Kris had either acceded or handed him his walking papers.  “I’m just… I can’t… with Chanyeol. Anymore.”

Kris stared blankly at him for a long moment.  Comprehension dawned. “I see,” he said, neutral.  “But you don’t want to leave?”

Baekhyun shook his head furiously.  “Not at all. I love working here, and not just because…” he blushed to the roots of his hair.  Kris smiled knowingly.

“Chen’s going out of town for a month starting tomorrow,” Kris said.  “How do you feel about working with Kai while he’s gone?”

Baekhyun shifted awkwardly.  “I don’t mind,” he said, and wondered what new sort of disaster this was going to become.  

Kris sat back and studied him.  “It’s not a crime, you know.” 

Baekhyun’s fading blush came roaring back to life.  Even the tips of his ears felt hot. “Um,” he said. “I – know.  It’s just… awkward.” 

“Do you want to talk about it?” 

“You’re not going to fire me?”

“Absolutely not!  You and Chanyeol have chemistry, on-screen and off.  It’s why I hired you in the first place,” Kris said, matter-of-factly.  “But I also can imagine… it would be hard, for me too,” he said. “If Tao didn’t feel the same, I would stop wanting to be with him as well.”  Kris’s voice dropped, comforting. “I hope it doesn’t have to become permanent, but if it’s a choice between shaking you guys up or losing you entirely, I’d rather shake everyone up.” 

Baekhyun was inordinately touched by Kris’s concern.  “It’s a personal problem,” he said, wanting to reassure Kris.  “I’ll… I think I just need some distance. We can try again when Chen comes back.” 

Kris tapped a few notes onto his computer, and nodded.  “If you’re sure.”

Baekhyun rose and bowed to him.  “Thank you,” he said. Kris waved him off.

“Send Kai in here if you can find him,” he asked.  Baekhyun bowed again, unwontedly formal, and slipped back out the door.  He found Kai easily, in the break room with the others. 

“Kris needs you,” he said, and flushed when Kai looked at him.  The lithe man rose gracefully to his feet and padded out. Baekhyun took the seat he’d vacated, and then regretted it when he realised his proximity to Chanyeol.  

“You look flushed,” the taller man said, and felt his forehead.  “Are you getting sick?” 

His blush powered up once more at Chanyeol’s innocent touch.  “I’m not sick,” he said, and pulled away. Chanyeol eyed him suspiciously, but then Kai reappeared in the door. 

“Chanyeol,” he called.  “Kris wants to talk to you now.” 

Chanyeol looked between Baekhyun, who averted his gaze, and Kai, who was impassive.  “Oookay,” he said, stretching the word out. “What’s going on?”

Kai grinned.  “I’ll uh… let Kris tell you.  Better not keep him waiting.” 

Chanyeol left in a hurry, his curiousity piqued.  Kai took his seat and held Baekhyun’s hand in his own.

“Are you sure?  Are you going to be okay?” 

It was the last thing he expected, but he hadn’t really thought about the impact this was going to have on both Kai and Chanyeol.  Baekhyun berated himself for his selfishness, and then thought about having to face Chanyeol when he came back into the room. “I’m,” he said.  “I just… I can’t,” 

Kai was genuinely sympathetic.  “I understand,” he said, and stroked the back of Baekhyun’s hand.  

Sehun looked between them.  “What’s going on?”

Baekhyun panicked.  Kai, perceptively, picked up on it.

“Do you want me to tell them?”

Baekhyun nodded jerkily, and then decided that Chanyeol would be back soon.  He couldn’t sit here and listen to Kai explain that he’d broken their unwritten rule, fallen for his partner, and now needed to switch to someone else because it was too hard to do his job, and he  _ definitely _ didn’t want to see what Chanyeol’s expression would be like when he came back.  “I’ve got to go,” he said, and practically fled. 

Behind him, he could hear Kai telling the others, “Baekhyun’s having some coping issues,” and then the door to the break room was swinging closed behind him, cutting off the rest of Kai’s words.  He didn’t see Chanyeol on his way out, for which he was grateful. 

 

He called in the next day and was granted a day off for personal reasons.  Kris was overwhelmingly understanding about the whole thing.

“I’m so sorry!” Baekhyun said.  “I’m messing everyone up!” Emotions leaked into his voice, and he felt small and pathetic.

“Baekhyun, calm down.  You’re not. I promise you’re not.”

He couldn’t bring himself to ask how Chanyeol had taken the news.  Kris read his mind and answered the unspoken question.

“Chanyeol understands too.  He really likes you; he’s not going to hold it against you.” 

This, for some reason, made Baekhyun feel even worse.   _ He really likes me?  It’s not enough! _  Then he felt selfish all over again and hated everything about his life.  

Kris divined his thoughts once more when the silence stretched.  “It’s just business, but Chanyeol is your friend above all else. He figured you probably wouldn’t want to talk to him for a couple of days, so he told me to tell you that.”

“Did you tell him…?”  He couldn’t finish. He didn’t need to.

“He guessed.  Would you like to know how it went?  I asked Kai how he felt about pairing you, and he said he didn’t mind, but what about Chanyeol?  And so I told him to send me Chanyeol, and told  _ him _ that you were having some personal problems and would be pairing with Kai while Chen was gone.  He was quiet for a moment and said, ‘it’s because he’s in love with me, isn’t it?’”

Baekhyun choked.  “Was it that obvious?”

“Everyone knows,” Kris conceded.  “But no one is holding it against you.   I know they warned you about getting emotionally involved, but have you seen Sehun and Luhan together?”

Baekhyun blinked.  “Uh, no?” Of all the things he’d expected Kris to say, that wasn’t one of them. 

“Watch their tapes one day, or better yet, come in when they’re filming.  Neither one will admit to it, but they’re both head over heels for each other.  In fact,” and Kris’s voice turned a little wicked, “I’ll put you between them and let you see for yourself.”

“ _ Excuse  _ me?”  

“You’re a free agent now, for a month.  Did you expect me to just leave you drifting in the wind?”  Kris laughed. “Besides, I’ve been getting requests for you to be seen with other people.” 

“ _ What? _ ”

“Seriously, come down to my office tomorrow.  I’ll show you some of the things they’ve been saying.” 

“They  _ who? _ ”

“Your fans.”

“I have  _ fans? _ ”

Kris laughed again.  “Of course you do. You’re a beautiful man, Baekhyun.  Have you seriously never even watched your own tapes?”

“ _ No! _ ”

“Do it.  Then tomorrow, come talk to me.  I’ll show you. I’ve got to go now, it sounds like Kai is wrestling bears in the break room.  Probably the soda machine is down again.” 

Baekhyun bit back on a laugh, his mood severely lightened from when he’d begun the conversation.  When Kris hung up, he dug out the discs they’d given him of his scenes and movies with Chanyeol. Starting with their screen test, which he’d been too embarrassed to even think about for months, he popped it into the television and sat down.

Hours later, he was done with the impromptu porn marathon.  It left him breathless and a little awed, to see himself on screen with Chanyeol.  He totally subsumed himself in his roles, so that he was almost unrecognisable to himself.  And the sparks between himself and Chanyeol… 

No wonder everyone was always complimenting them.  The electricity they generated was almost visible.   

He went to bed and wondered if Kai would be able to affect him like Chanyeol did. 

 

*

 

The next morning, he found himself in Kris’s office again, this time on the other side of the desk looking at the computer.

“These are just a few of the comments from the website,” Kris said, smugly amused, and sat back to let Baekhyun read them.  

* **Baekhyun is so fucking hot.  Wish I was Chanyeol!**

***Fuck!  He’s so skinny and his pants are so tight!!  How the hell does he accommodate Chanyeol?!?!**

***Loved Baekhyun’s attitude.  He’s so pretty, but then he opens his mouth and says the most disgusting things.  I could get off on the sound of his voice alone.**

***I want him…. I. Want. To. Eat. Him!!!!!!**

***I really want to see a threesome between Sehun, Luhan and Baekhyun.**

***I don’t even have to fuck him, I’d be satisfied with just jerking off in front of him.**

***Chanyeol should dominate the shit out of Baekhyun! Tie him up and show that bitch who his master is!**

***Baekhyun has the prettiest mouth and face ever.  I wonder if that’s all natural or if he went the plastic route…. :/**

***Bakehyun needs 2 b wit Kai and Kris 3some ftw!**

“Oh my,” Baekhyun said, boggling at the nature of the comments.  “Uh…” He couldn’t wrap his mind around some of the suggestions. They wanted Kris and Kai to fuck him?  They wanted Chanyeol to dominate him? His skin flushed and tingled at the thought. 

Kris laughed out loud at whatever his expression was.  “I told you.” He sounded smug.

“Yeah,” Baekhyun said, weakly.  

“So how about that threesome?”

Baekhyun flushed scarlet.  “Excuse me?”

“I told you yesterday I was thinking of putting you between Sehun and Luhan.  And ‘SexehBoi19’ wants it, too.” Kris eyed him sideways. “I know you’ve said before that you have trouble with … people, sometimes.  That Chanyeol is an exception.”

Baekhyun realised what he was saying, and felt his face grow hotter.  “Yeah,” he said. He’d been with Sinful Confessions for nearly seven months, but he still wasn’t totally at ease discussing things like that so baldly.  Kris stood up and opened a cabinet, displaying a multitude of bottles. 

“These are all legally tested, drug-free, non-habit-forming aids, for days when you guys just aren’t feeling it.  Do you think you’ll need a little push?”

Baekhyun buried his face in his hands.  “Yes,” he said, muffled. 

“Are you okay with pills or would you prefer to drink it?”

Baekhyun wanted to sink through the floor and die.  “Pills are fine.” 

Kris poured two tiny pills into the cap and handed it to him.  “Go ahead and take it now, so it’ll have a chance to work while we get set up.  And don’t feel embarrassed. I wouldn’t have these if we didn’t all need them sometimes.”

Baekhyun swallowed the pills dry, and tensed, half expecting them to hit his stomach and explode.  When nothing happened, he began to relax. 

“Sehun’s excited,” Kris said.  “Luhan is moody. I told you they were in love with each other.”  

Baekhyun snickered.  “Is there a specific scene for this?”

“In the teen room, friends playing video games and deciding to explore.”  

Sehun popped his head in the office.  “Oh, good, you’re here! Let’s go get dressed!”  Beaming happily, Sehun attached himself to Baekhyun’s side and dragged him from the room.  Midway through choosing their costumes for the scene, Baekhyun found himself getting hot. 

Sehun perceptively picked up on it, and his ‘helping’ Baekhyun dress took a turn for the naughty as he began letting his hands linger and his fingers leave red-hot trails against his skin.  Baekhyun shuddered, but it wasn’t unpleasant. Sehun picked up on that, too. 

“Are you nervous?”

Baekhyun shook his head without stopping to think about his response.   _ Nervous _ wasn’t the right word.   _ Anticipating _ covered the basics, but it also stretched out into  _ slightly terrified. _  Luhan, and especially Sehun, were his friends.  Would this scene change anything between them? He and Chanyeol had started as lovers, and grew slowly towards friendship out of that close foundation.  

“You lie like an old rug,” Sehun said, and stepped closer to him to capture his wrists.  Holding his hands in a vice-like grip, Sehun tilted his head and kissed Baekhyun sweetly – for a moment.  The pressure on his wrists – a definite erogenous zone for him – was stimulating, especially when combined with the filthy way Sehun darted his tongue in and out of Baekhyun’s mouth in an obscene parody of sex.  Baekhyun melted against him, Kris’s magic pills harnessing his desire and putting it to work for the first time without Chanyeol.

“I  _ told _ you they’d be fucking hot together,” someone said.  Baekhyun jerked away at the realisation that they suddenly had an audience, but Sehun refused to relinquish his hold on Baekhyun’s arms and he didn’t get far.  

Kris filled the doorway, with Luhan beside him and Chanyeol lurking behind them both.  

“Mmhmm,” Luhan said, eyeing them.  Baekhyun remembered what Kris had said about their feelings for one another, and tried to see if that look betokened jealousy. 

He suspected it did, but from the way Luhan was looking at  _ him _ , he didn’t think Sehun was its target.  

“This might not be such an awful idea after all,” Chanyeol said,  _ also _ peering at Baekhyun with a familiar heat in his eyes.  He was so distracted by that familiar look of desire that he almost missed the meaning of the words entirely.

“You think it’s a bad idea?”

Chanyeol grinned wickedly.  “Not anymore.”

Baekhyun flushed.  Sehun tugged on his hands, reminding him that they were preparing to start shooting.  He followed the group meekly into the teen bedroom where the television was already on, and a game begun for three people with controllers laid out.  Baekhyun snagged a cushion off the couch, in theory to have something to hold onto. In reality it was to hide the evidence of his arousal before they were ready.  He didn’t know how long the aid would last, nor how long they were expected to play the game before beginning the actual scene. 

The cameramen called their readiness, and Kris called for action as they took their places and began the game.  

Sehun lost the first round almost immediately and threw his controller down with a mock pout.  Baekhyun, to his own immense surprise, nearly beat Luhan by the end of it. 

Luhan turned to him with a leer.  “I bet you can’t beat me next round,” he said, voice pitched low.  

Baekhyun tossed a cocky smirk back at him.  “I bet I can. What do I get if I win?”

Luhan’s eyes traced a slow, lingering path down his body.  Even seated and hunched over a cushion, it was almost as physical as a touch.  “A kiss,” he said, and added, “It’s only fair after all.”

Breathless, Baekhyun acceded to the terms.  “And what do you get if you win?”

A wink went sailing over Baekhyun’s shoulder before Luhan met his eyes with a wicked grin.  “To watch.”

Baekhyun’s mouth fell open in an ‘O’ of surprise that wasn’t feigned in the slightest.  “Did you plan this?” he asked, whispering from the corner of his mouth as Sehun restarted the game.

“Maybe,” Luhan whispered back, not looking at him.  Baekhyun fought the urge to thwack him with the cushion.  

Whether by accident or design, Baekhyun won the next round.  Luhan pouted for all of about three and a half seconds before turning to Baekhyun with a gleam in his eyes that signaled no good.  Before Baekhyun could even react to it, Luhan was moving into his personal space, locking his fingers around Baekhyun’s wrists and pinning his hands to the floor before crawling into his lap – and thereby restraining his legs as well.  

Baekhyun nearly tipped over backwards until he found Sehun pressed up against him, supporting him and almost wrapped around him.  Sehun’s arms came around his waist and lingered there while Luhan pushed him back with a forceful kiss. 

It was like and still unlike Sehun’s kiss in the changing room.  Where Sehun had teased, Luhan took, plundering his mouth so thoroughly that Baekhyun didn’t notice where Sehun’s hands were going at first.  

The caress of delicate fingers against bare skin left him shivering.  


	8. Inspiration (Part 2)

 

Before he had time to register more than the light caress, Sehun’s deft fingers made short work of his baggy sweat-pants – and now the reason behind the loose costume choice made sense as Sehun shoved the waistband down past his hips, freeing his erection just enough that he could get his hand around it, while he used his other hand to shove Baekhyun’s shirt up.  

Being pinned between the two men while one kissed him and the other teased him was Baekhyun’s new idea of hell.  It was overwhelming, and yet at the same time it wasn’t nearly enough. It didn’t go on long enough for him to really have time to complain, however, for it was only a few minutes before Luhan took control of them both, ordering them onto the bed.  

They all hurried out of their clothes before Sehun sprawled out on his back, unashamed.  He let out a little huff of air when Luhan pushed Baekhyun down on top of him, and was otherwise quiet while Luhan suddenly snatched Baekhyun up by the hair, wrenching his head back forcefully – but not painfully, Baekhyun thought, with enough awareness to think clearly – to whisper in his ear.

“He comes first,” Luhan ordered.  “Suck him off.”

Baekhyun’s eyes fluttered at the rough treatment, something he never suspected he’d enjoy.  “I understand,” he said, and hated how breathy his voice was. He heard a sharply indrawn breath from somewhere but was too afraid to look around and see who it might have been.   The smirk on Luhan’s face was devilish as he pushed Baekhyun back down to begin working on Sehun. The touch, when it came, was so subtle that Baekhyun didn’t notice anything out of the ordinary at first.  He was completely involved in the blow-job, and the noises Sehun was making that he was pretty sure weren’t faked. Then Luhan pushed two lube-slicked fingers into him without warning and Baekhyun moaned uninhibitedly.  It set off a chain reaction as the vibrations of his voice stimulated Sehun, and Baekhyun realised that  _ this _ was why threesomes were popular choices.  

In keeping with the rough start, Luhan didn’t waste much time preparing him, pushing just enough lube around that he wouldn’t tear anything before aligning himself with one hand on Baekhyun’s hips.

A swat to the ass made Baekhyun jump, mostly because it was unexpected.

“Don’t stop,” Luhan ordered.  Baekhyun whimpered as he pushed in, and tried to refocus on Sehun, who had propped himself up on his elbows to watch.  The younger man let his head fall back, a satisfied smile on his face when Baekhyun returned to blowing him. The magic pills Kris had given Baekhyun meant that he didn’t have to pretend like he was enjoying what Luhan was doing, either – he simply  _ was. _  He sensed that Sehun was getting close to the edge when his hips began thrusting up involuntarily, and swallowed a moan as Luhan changed the angle of his hips in just the right way so as to hit his prostate.  

It was also at that time that he noticed the effects of the pills were wearing off.  He hated his body for betraying him, but in the interests of the film, he decided subterfuge was the better part of valour.  He swallowed around the thick length of Sehun’s dick and sucked him as far down as he could, wringing a choked moan from the other man.  Luhan twitched, losing his rhythm for a few beats. 

“Oh my god, you’re so good at that,” Sehun murmured, tangling one hand into Baekhyun’s hair.  A moment later his grip tightened almost painfully as he arched his back, coming straight down Baekhyun’s throat.  Feeling smug, Baekhyun let him go to recover while Luhan continued to fuck him. It was gradually becoming just like every other time he’d ever had sex, with the pleasure fading fast until it was just the regular feeling of being stretched and filled, with no desire or good feelings.  He wondered how long Luhan would continue, and if he could get away with faking his orgasm on camera. Almost idly, he returned to Sehun, licking him clean and then sucking the tip between his lips. 

Sehun let out a high-pitched whine at the touch, and Baekhyun glanced up at him.  Sehun met his eyes and grinned for a moment before his expression dissolved and he began to get hard again.  Using just the tip of his tongue, holding the muscle stiff while he licked little trails over the salty skin, Baekhyun became determined that even if he wasn’t going to finish, Sehun could come twice for both of them.  He made a bet with himself that he could get Sehun off again before Luhan climaxed, and the private race was on. 

Sensitive now, it didn’t take long before Sehun was a limp, mewling mess beneath him.  Almost at the last second, Baekhyun remembered himself, and went through the motions of climax, deliberately tensing his muscles up and crying out, holding himself so that his arms shook.  

Sehun moaned, “Omigod!” and came again.  This time Baekhyun pulled back and let it drip over his cheeks and mouth before licking his lips obscenely.  Luhan’s fingers dug into the bones of his hips as he slammed home once and held himself still as he rode out his orgasm.  He collapsed beside them, and Baekhyun took in his sweaty face and calm expression. He usually felt lost after sex when he’d had to pretend like that, but now he only felt an overwhelming gratitude that at least Sehun and Luhan had enjoyed themselves.  

He rolled to the side of the absurdly large bed to catch his breath, and then found himself enveloped in a pair of warm arms.

“Ch-Chanyeol?” 

“Shh” Chanyeol said.  “I know, I know. I wasn’t even involved.  Just let me.” 

Bemused, Baekhyun relaxed and allowed Chanyeol to hold him for the supposed ‘cool-down period.’  He nearly jumped when Chanyeol leaned down to whisper in his ear.

“I know you didn’t come.” 

“What?”

“Shh.  I saw your face.  Speaking of faces, look at them.”  Chanyeol jerked his chin in the direction of the other pair on the bed, and Baekhyun wriggled around in his grasp until he could see them.  Kris’s words about how in love with one another they were echoed through his mind as he took in the way they looked into each other’s eyes. 

He could tell just by looking at the expression on their faces that the entire world had ceased to exist, and that now they were together, nothing else mattered.  It made him slightly jealous as he realised how much he wanted something like that of his own. He turned to look at Chanyeol, and found the taller man already looking at him, his soft brown eyes warm as they crinkled at the corners when he smiled.  

“Chanyeol…” 

“Is this mean of me?” Chanyeol asked, and Baekhyun nearly choked on spit when he realised what Chanyeol was getting at.  

“No,” he said finally.  “I enjoy it.” The smile on Chanyeol’s face was triumphant as he shifted around so that one arm was free to stroke Baekhyun’s hair. 

“That was so fucking hot, watching you three,” Chanyeol murmured.  “I think I almost creamed my pants.” 

Scandalised, Baekhyun tried to pull away.   Chanyeol held fast to him. “Don’t just say things like that so plainly,” Baekhyun admonished, and felt himself blushing.  

“It’s true.  I don’t lie. Not like you,” he added.  For the third time, Baekhyun made an escape attempt, and was foiled again by Chanyeol’s superior height and weight advantage.  He settled for pouting instead. 

“I don’t lie, either.  I’ve never lied to you.” 

“Lower your voice a little,” Chanyeol said, laying a finger over his lips.  Baekhyun’s receding blush roared back to full life. “Of course you didn’t lie to  _ me _ , but you lied to them.”  

Almost against his will, Baekhyun found himself looking at Sehun and Luhan again.  It seemed almost indecent to stare at them, like he was intruding on an intensely personal and private moment despite the fact that they were surrounded by people.  The other pair on the bed were whispering to each other as well, so soft that even from two feet away Baekhyun couldn’t make out the exact words. Sehun giggled at something Luhan said, and then twined his arms around the older man’s neck, drawing him down for a quick kiss.

It was entirely true, everything they’d said.  Luhan and Sehun were  _ definitely _ emotionally involved – even if neither of them knew it.  He’d never seen either of them act this way with anyone else, and it went far above and beyond the call of film production.  This moment was for them and them alone. 

“How did I do that?” he asked, remembering Chanyeol.  

Chanyeol leaned down and blew lightly over his ear.  Baekhyun shuddered, though it wasn’t unpleasant. “You,” he said, and nipped on the lobe.  Baekhyun’s breath caught in his throat. “Didn’t,” he continued, and licked the shell gently.  Baekhyun had to bite back an outright moan. He’d never thought of his ears as sensitive before but he knew that he was going to start reacting soon if Chanyeol didn’t stop.  One thing was certainly true, he never needed drugs or other aids when the other man was involved. “Come,” Chanyeol finished, and snaked an arm around his body to cup his dick in one hand.  The touch was electric, and Baekhyun was suddenly  _ very _ aware that he was lying there naked while Chanyeol was still fully clothed.  There was nothing to hide the evidence that his erection was stirring to life again, this time solely because it was  _ Chanyeol _ touching him.  

“I,” he started, and used Chanyeol’s distraction to fling himself out of the bed.  He retrieved a pair of sweat pants – whether they were his or not he didn’t know or care – and suddenly noticed as he was pulling them on that the four of them were the only ones in the room.  The cameras were still going, but everyone else had vacated. Baekhyun didn’t even remember them leaving. 

“I gotta go,” he said, apologetically.  Chanyeol sat on the bed staring after him, and Sehun and Luhan were only beginning to remember that there were other people in the room at all.  Hating himself for being a coward, Baekhyun fled. 

 


	9. Spill the Beans

**CHAPTER NINE – Spill the Beans**

 

Kris caught up to him in the changing room while he was hunting through the piles of clothes for the things he’d been wearing when he came in.  

“Was it as terrifying as you thought it would be?”

Baekhyun jumped, feeling guilty and sure that all his sins were on full display across his face.  “No! …No, it wasn’t terrifying at all,” he stammered. 

“I can’t wait to get that one finished and uploaded,” Kris said.  “Tao had to leave the room and I thought at one point Chanyeol would just jump in between you and ruin it.”  

Baekhyun realised he’d put his shirt on inside out and had to take it off and change it around.  Kris didn’t seem to notice, or if he did, thankfully didn’t bother to comment on the mishap. “Oh?”

“It was  _ very _ nice,” Kris said.  “Do you regret it?”

Baekhyun realised it was just the usual interview, and began to relax.  “Not at all,” he said honestly. Though it wasn’t something he’d care to repeat any time soon, and then he realised that he would have to because it was his job and it was his own fault entirely that he wasn’t with Chanyeol.  He sighed, and masked it by turning to hunt for his jacket. 

“Good.  Kai tomorrow,” Kris reminded him.  “Do you want to try the aids again?  Did they help?”

He was so solicitous that Baekhyun felt guilt pressing down on him like a stone.  He tried to tell himself that he was being ridiculous, but the feeling wouldn’t go away.  “They helped yes, but – no, thank you,” he mumbled. He wondered if he would ever be comfortable discussing the things he did with them – it was completely absurd that he could  _ do  _ them but not talk about them without feeling like he was still in grade school.  

“Are you okay?” 

In the back of his mind, Chanyeol’s voice whispered,  _ Liar.  _  “I’m just tired,” he said, which was honest but not the whole truth.  He was just feeling out of sorts because of Chanyeol’s unexpected cuddling and the – entirely true – accusations he’d made.  

“Go on home and get some sleep, then,” Kris said, and his smile turned slightly lecherous.  “God only knows that those two would wear  _ me _ out, so I don’t blame you.”  He patted Baekhyun on the shoulder and let him out the door.  

To his own surprise, Baekhyun slept soundly.  

 

*

 

“So why did you end up here?” Kai asked.  He’d sensed Baekhyun’s nervousness somehow, and instead of starting anything, had simply sat him down and offered him a coffee.  

“Needed the money,” Baekhyun said, accepting the cup gratefully.  It was only nine in the morning, and not even Kris had shown up yet.  “What about you?”

Kai shrugged.  “Same,” he said.  “But not for myself.  I’m helping put my boyfriend through culinary school, and saving up for an apartment for us when he graduates.”

Baekhyun choked.  “ _ Chen? _ ”

This time, Kai choked.  “What?  _ No! _  Oh, Chen’s just my partner, he’s not my  _ boyfriend. _  My boyfriend is Kyungsoo.  He’s in France right now, he got a huge scholarship to some prestigious school out there.”  He dug his phone out of his pocket and flipped through it for a moment before displaying a picture of a friendly-faced young man, hugging tightly to Kai and smiling.  Kai looked at it fondly, a soft smile on his face. 

“And he – doesn’t mind … er, what you do?” 

“Nah,” Kai laughed.  “We’re kind of on a break, since he’s so far away, but we both trust each other implicitly.  I know he won’t leave me for some svelte young Frenchman, and he trusts me not to run away with Chen – or you.  Though he probably wouldn’t say that if he got a look at you,” he added, grinning. Baekhyun blushed. “Actually, I’d probably need to keep  _ him _ from running away with you,” Kai teased.

“I – I wouldn’t,” Baekhyun said faintly.  Kai leaned over and ruffled his hair before kissing him sweetly.  

“Kyungsoo said he’s looking forward to learning all the new tricks I’ve picked up,” he said, his voice turning to a husky growl.  “Let’s see if we can show him something.” 

 

*

 

“I can’t,” Kai said.  “That’s all there is to it.” 

“I’m  _ sorry, _ ” Baekhyun said, feeling miserable.  Kai had suggested they ‘practice’ before filming, but nothing he’d done had gotten any sort of reaction from Baekhyun’s traitorous body.  And he’d been  _ incredibly _ inventive.  They moved to the break room so Kai could get some more coffee – it was still early enough in the day that none of the others had gotten in.  

“It’s not your fault,” Kai told him, and it should have been condescending but it came out very sweetly and made Baekhyun feel even worse.  “You don’t seem to be doing it on purpose, though if I were a lesser man I’d probably be very insulted right now.” 

“It’s just a fluke with Chanyeol,” Baekhyun explained, and then nearly jumped out of his skin when the man in question said, “What about me?”

“Good morning!” Kai said, saluting with his coffee cup despite the fact that it was nearing noon.  

“You guys talking about me behind my back?” Chanyeol asked, teasingly.  

Kai leaned in towards Baekhyun and whispered loudly.  “That Chanyeol, he’s such a sshph-ssshphh.” In spite of himself, Baekhyun laughed.  

The others filed in, lounging around the break room as if it were someone’s personal living room.  The relaxed atmosphere of friendship was something that still amazed Baekhyun, and reminded him of how lucky he was to have gotten the job.  Kai returned to their earlier conversation as if it had never been interrupted. 

“So how is it a fluke?”

Baekhyun shrugged helplessly.  “I’ve just always been like this, ever since I was ra-” He knew as soon as the word started to come out of his mouth that he’d gone too far, and it sent his good mood spiraling into a tailspin.  He hoped it would go unnoticed, but apparently everyone in the room was either not-so-subtly eavesdropping or had secret super-hearing. Suddenly, he was the absolute center of attention, and worse, it wasn’t the good kind.  

“You were  _ what? _ ”

“When?”

“What happened?”

“Why are you working  _ here _ then?”

Baekhyun’s shoulders slumped.  “Do you want the whole pathetic sob-story?”  He looked at the wall, unable to bring himself to look any of them in the eye.  “My mother was a prostitute who didn’t believe in condoms. I never knew my father because she never even got his name.  A kid was the last thing she wanted, so I was pretty much left to myself until I was thirteen or fourteen. That’s when she started bringing home the johns for more than one night, moving them into our apartment.  One of them bought her a nice house, but left us when he found out she was – sick. She just found another guy to come live with her and pay the bills. He came into my room one night and told me I would have to pay him back for her, since she wasn’t any good anymore.  It went on for about six months. After the first few times it didn’t hurt and I never really felt anything with anyone else.” His mouth twisted bitterly. “And I tried. Girls, guys, everyone. My mother accused me of following in her footsteps, and making a family business out of it, but no one ever – I couldn’t –” 

Chanyeol vaulted over the table and wrapped Baekhyun up in his arms.  “No child should ever have had to go through something like that,” he said.  “Your mother was a bitch. Why are you still taking care of her?”

Baekhyun glanced up at him helplessly.  “She’s my mother,” he said. She’d been the only constant in his life and now she was dying of cancer on top of the virus that destroyed her immune system, and soon his life would be changed again, one way or another.  His nose twitched suddenly, and he sneezed. Chanyeol held onto him for a moment longer.

“Are you getting sick?” Luhan asked.  He was holding onto Sehun, who was still staring at Baekhyun with wide eyes, seemingly shocked speechless by Baekhyun’s revelation.  

“I don’t think so,” Baekhyun said.  The heat had been off in his apartment, but he’d had enough blankets to get by at night, and of course the studio was always warm, since most of them spent the majority of their time with their clothes off.  

“You’d better go, just in case.  If you are, and you get everyone else sick, Kris’ll tear your head off and shit down your neck,” Kai said, but it was weaker than his usual boisterous self.  Baekhyun was already regretting telling them about his mother, and his past – he didn’t want them to see a victim every time they looked at him. He acquiesced, and left, dreading and almost waiting for the rise of murmurs in his wake.  The fact that he didn’t hear them wasn’t reassuring, because then he told himself they were only waiting until he was definitely out of earshot.

 

\--   
Rape and molestation are not funny under any circumstances.  They are horrific, violent, traumatizing acts that sometimes destroy the lives of victims.  I used it here as a plot device, but my heart goes out to the survivors of such crimes, and I passionately hope that if any of you are in my audience, none of you feel offended by my use of it here.  

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>     Rape and molestation are not funny under any circumstances.  They are horrific, violent, traumatizing acts that sometimes destroy the lives of victims.  I used it here as a plot device, but my heart goes out to the survivors of such crimes, and I passionately hope that if any of you are in my audience, none of you feel offended by my use of it here.  


	10. Realizations

 

“It’s been like a week and a half.  You don’t think he’s quit, do you?” 

Chanyeol paced back and forth in Kris’s office, ruffling his own hair in an effort to keep from shouting at his boss.  Kris wasn’t making it easy for him.

“I don’t know.  He did call in for the first couple of days, and he sounded awful.  I told him to take as long as he needs.” 

Chanyeol groaned.  “Have you tried calling him?” 

“His phone is off or something; it goes straight to voicemail.”

“ _ Dammit. _ ”  Chanyeol slammed his hands down on the desk, making Kris jump before he looked up at him with a cynical expression.

“Chanyeol, get your ass out of my office, and go check on him if you’re so worried.” 

Chanyeol brightened.  “Oh, that’s a good idea!”  He deflated a moment later.  “I don’t know where he lives.  He’s never told any of us.” 

Kris rolled his eyes and muttered a prayer for patience.  He tapped a few keys on his computer and pulled it up, jotting the address down on a post-it before sticking it on the back of Chanyeol’s hand.  “There,” he said. “Now stop bothering me, I’ve got to figure out how the hell he’s been making this work.”

“…What?”

“Baekhyun changed the system, so that it works better – and it does – but I don’t know what he did, and since he didn’t tell me how he did it, I’ve got to figure it out.  Hey, ask him to come back one more time even he’s quit without notice, so he can explain this to me,” Kris asked. Chanyeol looked hard at the note with Baekhyun’s address, memorising it, and then nodded.  

He swung one leg over the saddle of his motorcycle and straddled it without turning it on.  He had no idea where the street even was, and pulled up the GPS on his phone to get directions.  It was surprisingly not far away, and he quickly scanned the directions that came up before tucking his phone back into his pocket and revving his bike up.

Fifteen minutes later, he entered a derelict neighbourhood.  Sure that he’d made a wrong turn somewhere, Chanyeol checked his GPS again, only to have it tell him that he was a mere one block away from Baekhyun’s apartment. 

_ What the hell does he live in a dump like this for?  Didn’t he say one of his mother’s men bought her a house?  Why isn’t he living in it instead? _

When the neighbourhood itself offered no answers, Chanyeol turned down Baekhyun’s street, and saw the cluster of motel apartments where – according the address he’d given – Baekhyun lived.

The idea of someone as beautiful and wonderful as Baekhyun living in this neighbourhood filled Chanyeol with a deep fear.  He’d lived in the same huge house all his life, and his parents had spoiled him rotten. Even now he worked for Sinful Confessions because he was bored and Kris was his friend, not because he needed the money.  Just the thought of living in this place was abhorrent to him on a deeply personal level. 

It was made all the worse when he considered  _ Baekhyun _ living here.  Baekhyun who had become near and dear to him in the time they’d worked together.  He didn’t even mind that the other man had asked to switch, because he knew it was just a job.  He hadn’t quite gotten up the guts to actually ask Baekhyun  _ out _ yet, just the two of them on an actual date, but he’d been working up to it.  

And then Baekhyun went home early one day and just never came back.  

He parked in a guest spot in front of Baekhyun’s flat and walked up to the door.  He was still having trouble reconciling the angelic man he knew with a home that looked like  _ this _ – there were cracks in the wall, he noted, and shuddered when a roach scurried away from him.  The nameplate on the door read  _ Byun B. _ however, and so he knew he was in the right place.  

Now that he was here, it seemed awfully foolish.  What if Baekhyun really had meant to quit? An icy gust of wind came up under his jacket and made him shiver.  Before he lost his nerve, he raised his hand and knocked. The door swung open slightly and hung there. 

A sudden horrifying vision – that he was going to step into his apartment and find Baekhyun dead and half-eaten by rats – swept through him.  “Baekhyun!” he called, and pushed the door all the way open. It was dark inside the flat, and he groped for a light-switch.

It clicked, but the lights didn’t come on.  The apartment was roughly the same temperature as the outside, which was probably only a step or two above freezing.  Fear gripped Chanyeol and he whipped his cell phone out, using it as a flashlight. 

There didn’t seem to be anything on the floors – no trash or rats or bugs – which was a small miracle as far as Chanyeol was concerned.  He found a tiny kitchenette tucked into an alcove, and there was a door off to one side of it. When he opened it, it revealed an empty bathroom, with a towel neatly folded on the back of the toilet and some toiletries around the sink.  A clothes hamper was half-full beside the shower. 

Chanyeol stepped back out of the bathroom and continued his sweep of the room.  He found a cheap old television set and a DVD player on the floor, and then noticed the couch tucked into the corner of the room.  There was a pile of blankets humped over it, and then Chanyeol just about lost it when they moved. 

A white hand appeared in the dim glow of his cell phone and shoved the blankets down slightly.  Baekhyun’s groggy face materialized, squinting into the mechanical light. 

“Who’s there?” he croaked, and Chanyeol thought,  _ Wow, Kris was right, he sounds awful.   _ Baekhyun coughed, a wracking, painful sound that seemed to come from the bottom of his lungs, and Chanyeol realised how sick he was.  There was a half-eaten bowl of ramyun noodles beside the couch, and he nearly kicked it over when he knelt beside the sagging couch to feel Baekhyun’s forehead.  

“It’s me,” he said, idiotically.  “Chanyeol. Jesus Christ, Baekhyun, have you been here the whole time in the dark?”

“…Chan,” Baekhyun said, and sneezed before coughing again.  “No,” he tried again when the horrible fit had passed. “Power went out… sometime … I don’t know.  What day is it? Am I late?”

Chanyeol’s heart swelled until it felt like it was going to burst out of his chest.  It felt like the force of his emotions would be enough to light up the room in a moment.  “You’re not late,” Chanyeol said. “We – I was just worried about you. Come on, you need to go see a doctor.” 

Baekhyun shook his head.  “Can’t,” he wheezed. “Can’t pay.” 

“What do you mean?”

“My mother – died.”  

Chanyeol thought he ought to feel something more than a sense of overwhelming relief, but there was nothing else in him for the woman who’d allowed her son to be taken against his will like that.  “So…?” he asked, and then realised it was callously heartless of him to say it like that. She was, after all, Baekhyun’s  _ mother. _  Quite possibly his only family in the world.  

“Hospital bills,” Baekhyun said.  “Funeral costs. Need – I need to pay it off.”  His eyes fluttered as he turned his head into the pillow and coughed again.  It shook his whole body. Chanyeol shook his head.

“You’re going to the doctor, now,” he said.  “I can’t let the man I love die of pneumonia because he’s too stupid to look after himself.” 

He didn’t know he was going to say it until the words were out of his mouth.  Baekhyun blinked owlishly at him from beneath the stack of blankets. He didn’t  _ know _ he was going to say it, but once they were there in the air between them he knew they were true.  “Come on, Baekhyun. I’m gonna call Kris; he’s got a nice big SUV. I’m not sticking you on the back of my motorcycle like this; you’d fall off.” 

Baekhyun laughed hoarsely, then groaned when it turned into a coughing fit.  When it passed, he asked, “You drive a motorcycle?”

“I  _ ride _ a motorcycle,” Chanyeol corrected, already dialing Kris’s number.  “So this is probably the worst possible timing, but Baekhyun, would you go out with me?”

“Just – just go out?” 

“Maybe we can fuck, too.” 

Baekhyun began laughing once more, while Kris, who’d picked up his phone just in time to hear that last line, squawked in horror.  

 


End file.
